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DOCTRINAL ASPECTS 



OF 



Christian Experience 



BY 



S. M: MERRILL, D. D., 



BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



+» >» 



CINCINNATI : CURTS & JENNINGS. 
NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS. 






23205 



Copyright by 

WALDEN & STOWE. 
1882. 




PREFACE. 



THE reader will find but little in the follow- 
ing pages that has not been previously 
said in substance, by the author or by some 
one else. The topics are familiar because 
fundamental. The ground has been traversed 
again and again, and yet the work is as nearly 
original as is possible, in the absence of novel 
theories or questionable methods. 

The design has been to group the substan- 
tial doctrines of Christianity with reference to 
Christian experience in such a way as to give 
to each its appropriate place and importance, 
without exalting one at the expense of another. 

It has been a gratification to the writer to 
find so little necessity for criticism, or for re- 
sort to strange constructions of the language 



4 PREFACE. 

of the Scriptures. His first thought was to 
elaborate some points more fully than he has 
done, particularly those relating to the higher 
attainments, but it soon became obvious that 
to indulge his inclination in that direction 
would swell the volume beyond the size in- 
tended. Had the work been a treatise on a 
single phase of experience, such as Holiness 
or Perfection, careful labor would have been 
bestowed upon passages scarcely mentioned, 
and many features of the subject would have 
been dwelt upon with interest which are 
passed over with brief remark. The doctrine 
itself would have been supported with formal 
arguments, and guarded against the most 
formidable objections. Whether the course 
pursued was best or not, it seemed necessary 
in presenting so. many aspects of experience 
in reasonable space. If the foundation of 
Christian character be laid in a genuine con- 
version, resulting in the possession of the 
Spirit of adoption, the path of duty with 



PREFACE. 5 

reference to future experiences will be easily 
found. 

It is, perhaps, needless to say that the book 
is intended for the ordinary Christian reader 
It is hoped that ministers and theological stu- 
dents will find in it some profitable suggestions 
and food for thought, but its chief aim is to 
help those who are untrained in abstruse studies 
to a knowledge of the grounds of our faith, 
and to assist them in distinguishing between 
the true and the false in those things which 
pertain immediately to salvation from sin. If 
it shall prove helpful to inquirers in conquer- 
ing doubts, and useful in leading to a clearer 
understanding of God's method of dealing 
with sinners in their restoration to the divine 
favor — and especially if it shall guide any to 
higher attainments in holiness, and to broader 
views of the love of Christ in redemption — 
the object of the writer will be met and his 
labor rewarded. S. M. M. 

Chicago, January, 1882. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. 
Chapter II. 
Chapter III. 
Chapter IV. 
Chapter V. 
Chapter VI. 
Chapter VII. 
Chapter VIII. 
Chapter IX. 
Chapter X. 
Chapter XI. 
Chapter XII. 
Chapter XIII. 
Chapter XIV. 
Chapter XV. 
Chapter XVI. 



PAGE. 

Depravity, 9 

Repentance, 24 

Faith, 38 

Faith Imputed, 56 

Pardon — Forgiveness, . • 76 

Justification by Faith, 86 

Justification by Faith Only, ... 98 

Regeneration, 117 

Adoption, 140 

The Witness of the Spirit, . . . .159 
Regeneration and Sanctification, 187 

Growth in Grace, 200 

Christian Perfection Identified, 222 
Christian Perfection Attained, . 244 

Holiness, 262 

The Two Agencies, 285 



ASPECTS 



OF 



CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter I. 

DEPRAVITY. 

CHRISTIAN experience is understood to 
include the process of the soul's emerg- 
ence from its natural state, into the condition 
of acceptance with God, and fitness for the 
kingdom of heaven, with the emotions of 
peace and joy, and hope and fear, which are 
incident to the great transformation. 

Salvation is deliverance from sin and its 
results; and this deliverance has its meth- 
ods, its conditions, its stages, and its con- 
summation. All these enter into the topic 
of Experience. It is therefore evident that 
the first thing to be done, as preparatory to 
the study of the process of salvation, is to 
obtain a clear view of the state of the soul as 



IO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

to its moral condition and relations prior to the 
beginning of the work of grace. This does 
not necessarily require a minute examination 
of the representations of the origin of sin and 
its nature, and of its effects upon the soul and 
the body, and its entailment on the race, 
which are found in systematic theology; but 
it is important to take into the account so 
much of the Scriptural statements as will show 
what human nature now is, and what it needs 
in order to bring it into the likeness of God, 
which is the only fitness for heaven. 

It is assumed, of course, that the Bible is 
supreme authority upon all questions involved, 
and the only source of information in regard 
to the creation of man, the introduction of 
sin into the world, and the mind and will of 
God with reference to duty and destiny. 
Revelation is the high court of appeals to 
whose decisions we bow in silence. 

Men exist. They began to exist. There 
was, therefore, a first man. He did not create 
himself. He did not spring from reptiles, 
birds, or beasts. He was created, and, there- 
fore, he was formed and fashioned after the 
mind of the Creator. If we had power to 



DEPRAVITY. 1 1 

look into the first man, and trace the myster- 
ies of his being, and mark the tendencies of 
all his faculties, and weigh his capacities and 
his adaptations, we might learn much of the 
divine thought and purpose in giving exist- 
ence to such a being. But this ability is de- 
nied to us, and we can only catch the dim 
outlines of the soul and its powers as we look 
into ourselves, and as we observe the mani- 
festations of its mental and moral qualities in 
actual life. The truths gathered thus are ex- 
ceedingly unsatisfactory till the light of revela- 
tion falls upon them, when at once their feeble 
gleams flash into the broad beams of noonday, 
showing what we are, whence we came, why 
we live, and what calamities have overtaken 
us since the first man breathed the atmosphere 
of heaven, bearing the impress and image of 
God. That revelation comes in brief narrative, 
telling the story of the creation, the fall, the 
ruin, and the provisional recovery of the race ; 

and brief as is the record, it contains all we 

i 

:; know, while the accumulated wisdom of the 
ages has failed to add a single fact to the 
original account, or to mar a sentence of the 
inspired Word. 



12 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

In this brief record we learn that God cre- 
ated man in his own image, endowed him with 
fitness to govern, and made him ruler over this 
world. In this holy estate man was also placed 
on trial. The high trust committed to him 
was to be maintained and confirmed by fidel- 
ity; and his fidelity was tested by a simple 
restraint or interdiction. This was probation. 
He kept it not. He fell, and in the fall he lost 
his dominion and the image of God, wherein 
he was created. That image was "righteous- 
ness and true holiness." With this loss came 
spiritual death, and the forfeiture of all life, 
and all good. The penalty of sin was death. 
Fully executed, that penalty would have ended 
the history of the race. But God purposed 
redemption. He therefore, by an act of sov- 
ereign grace, suspended the penalty, renewed 
the probation, spared the offender, and sent 
him out in his fallen condition to people the 
world. Adam begat a son in his own likeness. 
That son inherited a degenerate nature, and 
every child of the race bears the impress of 
the first sin, in being born in the image of 
Adam, and not in the image of God. "By one 
man's disobedience many were made sinners. " 



DEPRAVITY. 13 

What, then, is the condition in which we' 
are born? If we trace our lineage to Adam, 
and consider our inheritance from him alone, 
we shall find nothing but impaired physical, 
mental, and moral powers, with the germ of 
sin and death within, turning our whole being 
into the way of unholiness. This is our state 
by nature. It is not as God made us, but as 
the transgression of Adam caused us to be- 
come. We are not personally responsible for 
that sin, but we are affected by it, and the 
elements which it brings into our nature and 
condition have to do with the character of our 
probation, and touch our destiny indirectly 
through our own responsible activity. That 
first sin is a tremendous fact in the history of 
mankind. Its streams of influence run through 
all the races and generations of men. " By 
one man sin entered into the world and death 
by sin./- "In Adam all die." "By man 
came death." These are divine postulates. 
They point to the entrance, and enthronement, 
and reign of sin and death in this world, 
through the one offense of the first man. 
From Adam we inherit death. From him we 
also inherit "the seed of sin," the germ of 



14 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

evil, the bent of our natures to the wrong. 
This comes from the absence of spiritual life. 
It is our depravity. Call it what you may, , 
original sin, birth sin, carnality, or any thing 
else, it is something that is born in us, and 
grows with our growth, and strengthens with 
our strength, till it produces alienation from 
God, and rebellion against his authority. We 
call it depravity. It results from the depriva- 
tion of holiness, which comes to all the seed 
of Adam, in consequence of his primary sep- 
aration from the source of life and holiness in 
fellowship with God: and if that separation 
was complete, and that privation utter, then 
the loss of holiness through the line of nature 
is complete, and the depravity total. We 
inherit no spark of spiritual life from Adam, 
and not the least element of holiness. 

' ' But there is in all of us, as a matter of 
fact, something that is good." Yes, but it 
does not come from Adam. The redemption 
that is in Christ took hold of Adam in his 
fall, and averted the penalty that would have 
cut him down without offspring, and secured 
the development of creation in the existence 
of his posterity ; and the redemption which 



DEPRAVITY. 15 

secured our being and our probation, secured 
also the incipient workings of grace in the 
soul, placing every child of the fallen race in 
a justified state, in the kingdom of God, and 
in possession of the germ of life. This is the 
source of the good that is in us all. It comes 
not from Adam, but from Christ; it is not 
of nature, but of grace. 

In theology, we encounter two opposite 
statements, which differ from this representa- 
tion of the natural condition of the race, and 
deserve a passing notice. The first denies the 
federal character of Adam, and the fall in him, 
and repudiates the thought that sin and death 
come to us as our heritage through the first 
transgression. It holds that human nature is 
in us as it was in the first man from the begin- 
ning; that we are not corrupt, but only weak; 
that we are not perverse, but only ignorant. 
This theory, of course, charges the existing 
imperfections of our nature upon the Creator, 
who fixed the standard of morality as it is 
found in our constitution, and fails to give any 
explanation of the dominion of sin and death, 
except by placing it to the account of the 
laws of our being, as chosen and ordained for 



16 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

us in the counsels of the Eternal Mind. Sucn 
a view by no means accords with the Scrip- 
tural account, as we have seen it ; nor can it 
explain the divine postulates we have cited 
from the apostle on this subject. It also 
fails quite as glaringly to account for numerous 
facts of consciousness in our struggles with the 
evil within, and for the universal prevalence 
of wickedness in the world. We can not 
accept its glowing descriptions of the natural 
dignity, and purity, and excellence of man, 
without at once sacrificing our intelligence, 
and disregarding the testimony of Holy Writ. 
On the other hand, we encounter an ex- 
treme theory, which, with some tinges of 
truth, combines radical error. It is affirmed 
that Adam was the federal head and repre- 
sentative of the race, in such way as to involve 
all of human nature in the guilt of his sin; 
that in him the whole human family passed 
a probation, and fell; that the penalty was 
executed in full weight and measure upon him 
and his offspring ; that the condition of the 
race in this world is strictly penal ; and that 
all are born, not only corrupt, but under con- 
demnation, and personally liable to eternal 



DEPRAVITY. 



17 



death, on account of Adam's sin. Unfortu- 
nately, this extreme and untenable position is 
too often taken as the common doctrine of 
the evangelical Churches in relation to the fall 
of Adam, and the descent of the taint of sin 
through all the lines of his posterity. It as- 
sumes far too much in asserting the guilt of 
the race in the first sin, either in the realistic 
sense of responsible participation in their 
seminal existence in Adam, or in the fictitious 
imputation of the act or guilt of the progen- 
itor to his children. The consequences come 
down to us under the law of entailment; but 
the guilt, the responsibility, the penalty, the 
punishment by judicial infliction, not at all. 
In this hypothesis the new probation is un- 
known, and all the immediate benefits of the 
purposed redemption are left out of the ac- 
count. It sees humanity as related to Adam, 
and argues from his desert to the state of all 
his children as it might be supposed to be 
under a strictly legal administration ; but it 
fails to see the race as it is under the economy 
of grace, by virtue of the remedial scheme 
which lifts it to a new relation under a dis- 
pensation of mercy, and secures to all in 



1 8 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

responsible life a probation which involves the 
principles of equity and righteousness. It is 
therefore a sadly imperfect and distorted rep- 
resentation of the facts of our natural state. 

Then, turning from these extremes, we find 
the ground taken above to be firm and tenable. 
It enables us to explain the Scriptures, to ac- 
count for the evil in our natures and in the world 
around us, and also for the good. It accepts 
the fact of depravity, and obviates the objec- 
tions so often urged against extreme statements 
of the doctrine. It finds that, so far as our 
* ' flesh" — our own nature — is concerned, ' ' there 
is no good in us; M and yet, in our relation to the 
second Adam, it reveals the elements of good, 
graciously imparted. Does this doctrine dis- 
honor God ? Does it contradict fact ? Does it 
excuse wickedness, or destroy accountability ? 
In view of this statement it is not to be 
supposed that God made man weak, erring, 
wayward, and unholy. He made him upright, 
in his own image, and with capacity to keep 
his holy estate. Man fell into depravity by 
disobedience. Nor is it to be said that men are 
as bad by nature as they become by practice. 
The doctrine of total depravity does not mean 



DEPRAVITY. 19 

any such thing. When properly defined as 
the heritage of the race from Adam, it does 
not imply personal guilt at all. It is a condi- 
tion, a weakness, a moral paralysis, a spiritual 
death ; and under the dispensation of God's 
grace, with each soul born in this condition 
there comes some counteracting influence. 
But the supervening grace neither changes the 
primary fact of the fall, nor abolishes the law 
of propagation under which the first sinner 
transmitted his sinful nature to his offspring. 
The depravity which the Scriptures teach, con- 
sists not in positive guilt and wickedness, but 
in the utter loss of original righteousness, the 
destitution of the soul by natural inheritance 
of the spiritual life and holiness which Adam 
forfeited. The loss of that holiness is deprav- 
ity, and the utter loss of it is what is meant 
by total depravity. In asserting this doctrine, 
we say nothing about the gracious state of 
men, as that does not belong to the line of 
nature ; neither do we mention their personal 
guiltiness, which comes only with responsible 
action, nor the diversities of character which 
manifest themselves as the result of their 
natural and gracious state. Indeed, this is the 



20 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

only doctrine which finds room for all the facte 
in the moral history of the race, and accounts 
for them without laying the responsibility 
upon God as the author of human nature as 
it now appears. 

Finally, we do not deem it proper to say 
that we are born sinners. If this expression 
be used it must be explained. Sinners com- 
mit sin. They transgress the law. We are 
not born sinners. Nor dare we claim to be 
born sinless. This implies such purity and 
freedom from depravity as belong to none 
who are the offspring of fallen Adam. We 
are therefore not sinners, by nature, nor sin- 
less, but sinful By this we mean that our 
nature is perverted by sin, and tends to sin, 
before we commit sin. In other words, we 
are affected by sin, and inherit the germ of 
evil, which develops into such a bent to sin, 
that none successfully resist it of themselves. 
This is our depravity. We are "born after 
the flesh," and must be "born again." We 
are not born in the image of God. That 
comes in the "new creation." Depravity is 
not an accretion, gathered about the soul by 
contact with the world. It comes not from 



DEPRAVITY. 21 

without, through bad education or bad exam- 
ples. It is a disease of our natures — a 4 ' leprosy 
within" — a moral malady whose poison per- 
meates the fibers of our spiritual being, and 
sends the chill of death through all the hidden 
chambers of the soul, and touches with its 
blight the fountain of the sensibilities and the 
passions. 

Starting in life with this natural inclination 
to evil, it is not wonderful that the whole race 
is practically estranged from God. Without 
considering the question as to the possibility 
of exceptionally well-favored persons, under 
Christian influences, so far escaping the nat- 
ural disposition to do wrong, as to retain the 
primal justification, till the traditional faith of 
childhood passes into the personal confidence 
which secures the standing of active disciple- 
ship, we find that in Old Testament times, 
when the Lord looked down from heaven to 
see if there were any that were not corrupted, 
he declared, "They are all gone aside, they 
are altogether become filthy; there is none 
that doeth good, no, not one." In Paul's day 
the facts were no better. He repeated the 
words just quoted, and affirmed with emphasis 



22 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

that "all have sinned, and come short of 
the glory of God." Practically, then, the 
whole world is guilty before God. Therefore 
we accept the proposition that men are sinful 
by nature, and naturally become sinners in 
practice. They are "aliens" from God, and 
"enemies;" they are "without strength;" 
they are "carnal, sold under sin;" they are 
"dead in trespasses and in sins;" they are 
"lost;" they are "by nature the children of 
wrath ;" they are ' ' the children of the devil. " 
They are " condemned " under the law of 
God, and "blinded," and "led captive by the 
devil at his will." Such is the nature, and 
such the condition of men, when the Gos- 
pel comes with its offer of pardon, life, purity, 
blessedness, and triumph. In acceptimg the 
Gospel, and verifying its truth, and rising out 
of the "horrible pit," and passing into the 
" image of God," and into the life of faith, 
and the obedience of love, and the fellowship of 
the holy, there is a deep and joyful experience 
placed before every one which is too mighty 
in its inception, and progress, and results, 
to pass upon us, and transform and save us, 
without our consciousness of its presence. It 



DEPRAVITY. 23 

is to some of the aspects of this experience 
we shall direct attention, considering not 
merely the emotional elements therein, but 
also the conditions and doctrinal relations 
implied, as these are unfolded in the Holy 
Scriptures. 



24 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter it. 

REPENTANCE. 

FIRST among the terms which the attentive 
reader of the Scriptures encounters, relat- 
ing to the spiritual exercises of the soul in its 
struggles with sin, is the word Repentance. 

This word, in some respects, resembles the 
word l( conversion/ ' as it signifies a turn 
round in life, the forsaking of former ways, 
and the adoption of new principles of action. 
It is not, however, the full equivalent for the 
word " conversion/ ' as it is not so intimately 
related to the spiritual life which follows re- 
generation. Yet if we analyze its meaning, 
and study its use in the Scriptures, we shall 
find that it describes a very important feature 
of experience. It expresses a twofold idea — 
the proper inward feeling of the soul in regard 
to sin when its true nature is apprehended, 
and the act of turning away from sin in obe- 
dience to that inward feeling. 

Repentance implies a conviction of the fact 



REPENTANCE. 2$ 

and of the evil of sin. This conviction is 
wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, whose 
office it is to convince the world of sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment. In perform- 
ing this office the Spirit may or may not em- 
ploy outward instrumentalities, but ordinarily 
something external to the sinner is used to 
draw his attention, and to excite thoughtful- 
ness. Conviction, however produced, is not 
properly regarded as a part of repentance, 
but as an antecedent to repentance, and as 
necessary to it. We do not repent of sin till 
we feel its burden, and discover its nature ; 
but when the law of God in its purity and 
spirituality is applied to the conscience, it re- 
veals the presence of sin, and shows its guilt, 
and declares its ill-desert. This far the Spirit 
goes in its work without our consent or co- 
operation ; but when conviction is produced, 
and we see our sins and feel conscious of guilt 
and danger, then we are called upon to become 
active in the matter of repentance; and unless 
we become active, the work will not proceed, 
but the conviction will abate and die out, and 
increased insensibility will ensue. Many in 
whose heart the Spirit works, resist its warn- 



26 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ings, its illuminations, and its drawings, and 
never advance a step in the real work of re- 
pentance. 

In connection with conviction, there springs 
up in the soul a desire to escape the conse- 
quences of sin, and if the work of the Spirit 
is not resisted, this feeling will take the form 
of an earnest desire to obtain deliverance from 
sin itself. This is incipient repentance. When 
indulged or cherished, it will lead to the first 
active step in repentance, which is the confes- 
sion of sin. 

Confession is first made to ourselves. This 
is a great victory. When we become so 
penetrated with the sense of our sinfulnesses 
to be willing to own to ourselves the vileness 
of our hearts, and the wickedness of our 
deeds before the Lord, and our liability to the 
wrath which we feel to be impending, we have 
started in the way of repentance. Then con- 
fession is made to God. The folly of hiding 
sin in our hearts is manifest in our consciences. 
We feel as never before that the eye of God 
is upon us ; that the whole of our outer and 
inner life is naked and opened to the eyes of 
him with whom we have to do ; and then we 



REPENTANCE. 27 

go to him in penitence and confess our sins. 
Following this, if we have wronged or injured 
our fellows, we find something within prompt- 
ing us to acknowledge our fault to the injured 
party, and to seek forgiveness. This is real 
progress. The work of repentance is begun. 
By this time we are ready to confess to all 
around us our unworthiness, our weakness, 
and our great need of pardoning mercy ; and 
if we have sinned publicly so as to injure the 
cause of God in the community, we are led 
to make our confession as public as our 
wickedness had been. 

By this time the feeling of deep regret that 
we have wasted time, and strength, and abused 
the mercies of God, becomes paramount in 
the soul. This is sorrow for sin. It is the 
essence of repentance. It arises from the view 
we have gained of the evil of sin, of the holi- 
ness of God, and of his goodness to us. We 
dread the punishment of sin, but we deplore 
the sin itself. The ingratitude of our hearts 
fills us with dismay. We bewail our guilt ; 
we loathe our past lives ; we reproach ourselves 
for blindness and stupidity, and tremble before 
the God of righteousness. 



28 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

Moving on in the way of repentance, we 
11 cease to do evil, and learn to do well/' 
The pleasures of sin have vanished. We hate 
what we loved. We break off from sin with- 
out regret. Prayer is now our refuge. " God 
be merciful to me, a sinner," wells up from 
the soul, and breaks from the lips. No other 
sentence is so appropriate as this ! Mercy is 
our plea. Then we learn of Christ. His life, 
and death, and resurrection, and ascension, 
bear new lessons to our hearts. He is no 
longer a name, a historical personage, a mere 
person ; he becomes a living reality, a Savior. 
With heart and soul and voice we turn to 
him. This is indeed repentance. It is "godly 
sorrow" that worketh repentance unto sal- 
vation "not to be repented of." It is too 
high a step in the direction of deliverance to 
be taken without divine aid. God is surely 
working in the soul, and it is already not far 
from the kingdom. 

Some degree of faith must attend every 
step in the process of repentance. He who 
begins to repent believes in God, and in his 
Word. He accepts the light as it comes. He 
acknowledges the divine authority. But as 



REPENTANCE. 



2 9 



yet his faith has not reached the point that 
justifies. He has not cast himself wholly on 
the Son of God, and trusted for acceptance. 
Faith takes this form, and this degree, only 
when repentance becomes so deep as to cut 
off the last particle of confidence in self. 
None but the self-despairing can trust in Christ 
alone. 

Mistakes are sometimes made in regard to 
the work repentance does for the sinner. It 
is claimed that it prepares the penitent for 
pardon, and entitles him to receive it. This 
statement contains some truth, and some seri- 
ous error. Repentance prepares the man for 
pardon ; it brings him into the right disposition 
to receive and appreciate the blessing; but 
we dare not say that it gives him a title to it, 
or in any sense becomes the ground or reason 
for forgiveness. The ground of pardon is not 
in the person receiving it, but in Christ. 
"In whom we have redemption through his 
blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according 
to the riches of his grace. " That is a false 
view of repentance which makes it the con- 
sideration in the divine mind on which alone 
the blessing may be bestowed. Repentance 



30 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

does not expiate guilt. It does not satisfy the 
requirement of the broken law. There is 
nothing in it tending to uphold the authority 
of government in the administration of clem- 
ency. As between men who are equals, 
repentance for a wrong done may open the 
way for forgiveness, and make the exercise 
of clemency right and duty; but in matters of 
government, where not only private wrong 
has been done, but the public law violated, 
the private party injured may acquit the of- 
fender, on repentance, so far as his personal 
feelings and relations are involved, but he has 
no right to adjust the claims of the law in the 
case. God is offended by the sins of men, 
and his law is transgressed. He is the moral 
ruler of the universe. His law is for the pro- 
tection of myriads of intelligent beings whose 
loyalty is complete, and whose happiness de- 
pends on the maintenance of authority, and 
the unbending assertion of righteousness. The 
interests of the moral government require the 
enforcement of the law. If clemency be ex- 
ercised, it must be in harmony with the rights 
of the government, and in such way as to 
display the righteousness as well as the mercy 



REPENTANCE. 3 1 

of the sovereign. Herein is found the neces- 
sity of the atonement — the propitiation in the 
blood of Christ. Repentance does not atone. 
It affects the person of the penitent ; it marks 
an era in the history of his transgressions; it 
starts him into a new and better life ; but it 
makes no amends for the past. The record 
of his sins stands against him, and nothing but 
the blood of atonement, appropriated by faith, 
can blot out the record or cancel the account. 
If forgiveness were simply a matter of pre- 
rogative, the sovereign might impose the con- 
dition of repentance, and treat it as a sufficient 
reason for forgiveness; but it is not a mere 
matter of prerogative. It is a governmental 
action. The Supreme Ruler can not separate 
himself from his universe, and act in an arbi- 
trary way. The attributes of his being govern 
his administration. His holiness restrains him 
from being indifferent to sin, and his justice 
impels him to regard the rights of his law, as 
his goodness inclines him to seek the happi- 
ness of his creatures. In his dealings with 
the subjects of his law every attribute of his 
nature must concur, and every right of his 
government must be maintained. Then, if he 



32 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

should forgive sins by mere prerogative, what 
would become of the justice and law that 
affix penalty to transgression ? If in this way 
he should forgive some and not others, what 
would become of his equity, his impartiality ? 
If he should forgive all, what would become 
of his opposition to sin ? How would he vin- 
dicate his authority ? how manifest his holi- 
ness? The truth is, arbitrary action is not 
government. The Supreme Ruler of the uni- 
verse is himself governed by the law of his 
being, and that same law determines the char- 
acter of his government over his creatures. 
God can not act contrary to his own nature. 
He must act by rule, by the law of his per- 
fect selfhood. Therefore, he can not act arbi- 
trarily. He can not change. He can not do 
and not do. Therefore, he can not enforce 
his law and set it aside. He can not denounce 
sin under penalty, and without consideration 
set aside the penalty. His own nature, and 
his relation to his law and to the universe, 
alike proclaim the absurdity and the impossi- 
bility of the forgiveness of sin by mere pre- 
rogative ; and if not by prerogative, it can not 
be upon any condition that does not satisfy 



REPENTANCE. 33 

the claim of justice and maintain the authority 
of law. The repentance of the sinner does 
not do this ; but the sacrificial death of Christ 
is the provisional satisfaction, rendered avail- 
able to the penitent upon personal trust in 
Christ. Hence, repentance and forgiveness 
are preached in his name. 

The thought here occurs that possibly the 
duty of repentance is not insisted upon in the 
preaching of the times, as in former years. 
John the Baptist opened his mission by preach- 
ing repentance and exhorting men to flee the 
wrath to come. The Savior himself began 
his public ministry by calling upon the people 
to repent and believe the Gospel. When he 
sent out his disciples to preach the kingdom 
of God at hand, he directed them to preach 
repentance. On the day of pentecost, when 
the first sermon was preached under the new 
commission, and the multitude, cut to the 
heart, inquired what they should do, Peter 
told them to repent. God now commands all 
men everywhere to repent. To every class 
of sinners the evangelist is authorized to say, 
" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise per- 
ish." This is, indeed, the minister's primary 



34 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

work. His business is to call sinners to re- 
pentance. Every thing else must bend to this 
duty, and in some way contribute to this end. 
Yet he need not be narrow. The call to re- 
pentance is not best enforced by always dwell- 
ing on this theme to the neglect of others. 
Living issues must be met; the strongholds 
of infidelity must be assailed and captured ; 
the hiding-places of heresy must be searched ; 
the darkest habitations of superstition must 
be explored, and all the enemies of God and 
truth must be brought under the flash and 
glare of the divine Word — a work which will 
require time, thought, study, prayer, and 
earnest working. But there are multitudes in 
the busy world around us who care little for 
our profoundest investigations. These must 
not be neglected. They have no patience 
with metaphysics, no taste for logic, and little 
regard for displays of learning. If brought 
to repentance, it must be by appeals to their 
hearts. The law of God musi be laid upon 
their souls; the love of God, in melting 
strains, must thrill their sensibilities ; and the 
minister of God may assume that the stirring 
truths of salvation, gushing from hearts moved 



REPENTANCE. 35 

with sympathy for the perishing, and pressed 
with the vehemence of honest zeal, will awaken 
in them a desire to know God and the power 
of his grace. Such appeals must be made, 
and in this work of calling men to Christ, 
"repentance towards God " will find its appro- 
priate place in every theme. 

Say not that the subject itself is narrow, 
or commonplace, or stale. In preaching re- 
pentance, definitions, expositions, arguments, 
and illustrations may all be employed ; de- 
scriptions picturing sin, folly, ruin, and death, 
with all the enormity of guilt and the fearful- 
ness of retribution, will be required ; and so 
will descriptions of virtue and holiness and 
heaven give scope to the finest powers of the 
mind. Motives appealing to reason, grati- 
tude, hope, and fear may be dwelt upon with 
a fervency that knows no weariness. No : 
the theme is not trite nor narrow. It calls 
for intellect, heart, and soul ; it affords room 
for every phase of oratory. There must be 
sternness to arouse, vividness to portray, and 
pathos to melt and invite and draw to Christ 
In this work the minister must have faith — 
faith in the Gospel as the power of God and 



36 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the wisdom of God, and faith in his own mis- 
sion as the servant of Christ. And if he be 
truly called of God, may he not have this 
faith ? He has the promise of God's presence 
and help ; he has the whole Gospel, with its 
provisions, authority, and grace; he has the 
experience of the Church in all the past, with 
its ample testimonies to the efficiency of the 
Word of truth and the instrumentalities em- 
ployed. Then, what more is needed to stim- 
ulate him to emulate the zeal of those heralds 
of the cross whose ministry gathered multi- 
tudes into the fold in other days? It is well 
to edify the Church, to instruct the intellect- 
ual and cultured, to afford entertainment to 
lovers of literature and science ; but it is the 
first duty of the preacher to reprove sin and 
warn the impenitent of coming wrath. As 
Mr. Wesley says, "Learning is good, but 
saving souls is better." 

Repentance is the initial step in the way 
of life. It means to turn round, to turn away 
from sin ; and it is, indeed, the turning point 
in the history of the soul. If the repentance 
be superficial, the whole experience will lack 
fervor and depth and clearness. It lies at the 



REPENTANCE. 37 

foundation of all that makes up the life of 
faith. The superstructure can not be perma- 
nent unless the foundation is solid. The faith 
that saves partakes of the character of the 
repentance that accompanies it. Let there be 
no mistake in the groundwork of the experi- 
ence of salvation. 



38 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter III. 

FAITH. 

THAT faith is enjoined as a duty, and 
unbelief condemned as sinful, is not 
questioned by any student of the Scriptures. 
It is, therefore, possible for men to believe 
if they will ; for it is a cardinal principle that 
where a duty is enjoined, the pow r er to per- 
form that duty is implied. If that power does 
not exist inherently in the person commanded, 
it is supposed to be imparted to him, or in 
some way made available by gracious influ- 
ences, so that the thing required is as practi- 
cable as if the power were an actual and orig- 
inal possession. Hence the guilt of unbelief. 
In almost all the reasonings on this subject 
which have fallen under our notice the main 
factor, the co-operating power of the Spirit 
of God as a present and always available 
helper, has been overlooked. The faculties 
of the mind have been studied, the power of 
the passions, and the influence of apprehended 



FAITH. 39 

truth on the understanding, together with effect 
of motives near and remote, have all received 
attention in the discussion, while the fact that 
1 ' God works in us, to will and to do of his 
good pleasure," has been left out of the ac- 
count, as something to be considered only 
after the whole system of Christian doctrine 
has been proven and the reasonableness of 
faith demonstrated. But this fact is one of 
the essential elements in the premises of evan- 
gelical teaching — an ingredient that can not 
be omitted without vitiating the whole com- 
pound; and, therefore, every fair-minded per- 
son proposing to decide upon the merits of 
the system will study it with this allegation 
included, and investigate its claims as repre- 
sented by its friends. 

We know that philosophical questions as 
to man's responsibility for his beliefs have 
arisen, and perplexed and bewildered many 
honest people, and possibly have induced 
much of the indifference which prevails in re- 
gard to the doctrinal system of Christianity. 
We would neither ignore the fact nor under- 
value the importance of the issues involved ; 
but we would, if possible, avoid false issues, 



40 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

and keep the mind upon the real points in 
discussion, and upon all the material facts nec- 
essary to the right conclusion. The supposi- 
tion that the nature and ground and objects 
of belief must be clearly understood, and the 
faculties exercised with perfect freedom toward 
all the aspects of faith, before it can become 
an element of personal character, is erroneous 
and deeply injurious wherever it is indulged. 
In fact, the mental processes of faith to which 
these questions relate, and from which springs 
the doubt of personal responsibility for our 
beliefs, are scarcely recognized in Scripture, 
and certainly no great account is taken of 
them. They must, of course, take place ; 
and there is no doubt that they may be stud- 
ied profitably under proper conditions, when 
one is qualified for the investigation ; but it 
can not be that the ordinary seeker after sal- 
vation will find it necessary to enter upon this 
line of thought, and solve the problems pre- 
sented, before he can intelligently apprehend 
Jesus Christ as his Savior. It is not so much 
an exercise of the intellect, in harmony with 
the comprehended laws of mental action, that 
is required, as it is a right disposition of mind 



FAITH. 41 

and heart with reference to divine authority. 
When the disposition is right, God's Spirit, 
through the instrumentality of the truth, will 
lead the inquirer into the way of life. On 
this ground the assertion is justifiable that in- 
fidelity is more of the heart than of the head. 
Men disbelieve because they desire not to 
believe ; and their desire is begotten and con- 
trolled by passions and inclinations the subju- 
gation of which is required by the plainest 
principles of morality and virtue. 

We, therefore, insist that in determining 
this question of responsibility, and in deciding 
whether men can believe in Christ if they 
will, and whether the requirement of faith as 
a duty is reasonable, the fact be recognized 
that, in all cases of earnest seeking for the 
truth, the Spirit of God is promised to help 
our infirmities and to guide us to safe conclu- 
sions. Faith, in the evangelical sense, is to 
this extent the product of a gracious power, 
or, if it be preferred, of a supernatural agency. 
It is the fruit of the Spirit. Its absence argues 
a wrong disposition of the heart, the blindness 
and stubbornness of the will, by which the 
light of the Spirit is shut out. On this account 



•4-2 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

unbelief brings condemnation. Light is come 
into the world, but men love darkness. They 
prefer not to be led out into the clear visions 
of truth and spiritual blessedness, and, in his 
inscrutable wisdom, God sees fit to allow them 
to follow their own ways. 

There are, then, certain moral conditions 
of faith, which are even more important to be 
considered than any thing we can know con- 
cerning the intellectual processes, or mental 
states required. The whole scheme of salva- 
tion assumes that men are lost, that they are 
perverted by sin, and blinded so as to be un- 
willing to be saved in God's way, till they are 
sought and drawn and enlightened from on 
high. The work of actual deliverance, as 
well as the provision for it, and the appoint- 
ment of the instrumentalities for its accom- 
plishment, originates with God, and comes to 
man graciously as an expression of the divine 
solicitude. God seeks the sinner, awakens 
him, and urges him to be saved. The first 
motions, therefore, of the soul toward the 
Savior, and all its anxiety and sorrow and 
seeking, are from God, the product of grace. 
Granting to men the intellectual and moral 



FAITH. 43 

faculties to be employed in believing, yet if 
these are all bent in another direction, and 
if they can not be recalled or rescued from 
the thralldom of their wayward inclinations 
without such discoveries of guilt and danger 
upon the one hand, and of the truth and an 
offered Savior upon the other, as the Spirit 
of God alone can effect, it follows that there 
is as much dependence upon the Spirit for 
faith as if the natural faculties were lacking 
and could only be supplied by the Spirit's 
agency. 

The faith which identifies the believer with 
Christ, and appropriates the efficacy of his 
blood to the justification of the soul, is not 
and can not be the spontaneous outgrowth 
of the native energies. The condition in which 
sin involves the transgressor forbids the sup- 
position that there is any possibility of devel- 
oping from the wreck of human powers so 
excellent a virtue. The lapse of human na- 
ture in the federal head is not a figure of 
speech. Its helplessness is patent to the con- 
sciousness. Its utter ruin through the domin- 
ion of sin is a stubborn fact, the denial of 
which renders meaningless the grandest mani- 



44 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

festations of divine love, and leaves the mys> 
teries of life, with its ills and evils, not only 
inexplicable, but irreconcilable with the wis- 
dom, justice, and holiness of God. Before 
we can grasp the great thought of revelation 
concerning redemption, or form any satisfac- 
tory conception of the infinite wisdom dis- 
played in God's method of our recovery from 
depravity and death, we must get from under 
the shadow of worldly wisdom and away from 
the suggestions of self-righteousness, and be 
willing to accept the concurrent testimony of 
the Bible and consciousness with reference to 
the reality of our vileness. How blindly per- 
verse is human nature at this point ! With 
what relentless tenacity do men cleave to the 
delusion that there is something good and 
virtuous and strong within them — some latent 
energy hidden away in their natures, that will 
prove sufficiently recuperative to work out in 
some way their deliverance from sin, without 
submitting to the humiliation the Gospel re- 
quires ! Hence the stubbornness of their 
struggles against conviction, and the sense of 
wounded pride that creeps over them when 
first the persuasion comes that in them there 



FAITH. 45 

is no good thing. Every awakened sinner 
knows something of this inward conflict, and 
every converted man knows how the joy of 
pardon is enhanced by the memory of his 
previous failures, and of the extremity of the 
conscious ruin out of which his deliverance 
brought him. It is only by considering this 
fearful prostration of our natural powers that 
we are able to see the extreme measure of 
our dependence on the Holy Spirit for the 
dispositions necessary to the faith that saves. 
It should be added that this faith, wrought 
by the Spirit, beginning with the first gleam 
of conviction, and growing up into active con- 
fidence in Christ, always implies repentance. 
It is needless to speculate as to which comes 
first in the order of time, repentance or faith, 
for the two are so related and interdependent 
in their different stages of development that 
we dare not affirm that one is present where 
the other is not. Repentance is not merely 
an act ; it is an inward state, a disposition of 
the soul that should be permanent or contin- 
uous in the Christian life. The views of the 
ill-desert of sin which it implies are to be cher- 
ished in all stages of spiritual advancement ; 



46 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

and although the consciousness of guilt that 
gives pungency to conviction and intensity to 
godly sorrow will pass away with the coming 
of the evidence of pardon, the feeling of heart 
with reference to sin which constitutes the 
essence of true repentance will abide without 
abatement through life. This disposition of 
the mind toward sin, or, in other words, true 
penitence, is so essential to the exercise of 
faith that we see no good reason why it may 
not be called a condition of faith ; for the faith 
that apprehends Christ and justifies the sinner 
springs only from a heart that is contrite. 
Ungodly men believe intellectually. They 
assent to the historical truths of Christianity, 
and also to its doctrines and ethics. So, also, 
do the devils believe and tremble. But their 
faith is defective because of the absence of 
moral qualities. It implies no penitence, no 
self-abasement, no longing desire for immedi- 
ate deliverance from sin. It is only to the 
broken-hearted and the contrite in spirit that 
the Savior promises to come, and to bring his 
Father to make his abode with them. 

But this dependence upon the Spirit for a 
disposition to seek the Lord and to exercise 



FAITH. 47 

faith can not be pleaded as an excuse for the 
absence of faith. God has left every man 
without excuse in this matter, inasmuch as he 
gives to every one a sufficiency of the Spirit's 
influence to make his ability equal to his duty. 
This point is familiar in theology — it is the 
old doctrine of preventing graee, or grace be- 
fore conversion — but it is seldom made suffi- 
ciently prominent in connection with its bear- 
ing on the subject of personal responsibility. 
As salvation originates in God, and its begin- 
ning is manifested in the divine effort to seek 
the lost, and is shown in all the Spirit's striv- 
ing to recover men from their sins, we may 
infer that the work is not deferred till long 
habits of sin have obstructed the Spirit's ap- 
proach, and deadened the susceptibility of the 
soul to gracious influences. It is rather to be 
assumed that the Spirit begins to strive with 
the dawning of moral agency, and continues 
till crowned with success in the soul's conver- 
sion, or driven away by persistent rejections 
resulting in obduracy. 

Faith is not formally defined in the Scrip- 
tures. Its office and work are given ; its ne- 
cessity and results are set forth, and the fearful 



48 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

consequences of unbelief are most impress- 
ively declared ; but the properties or constit- 
uent elements of faith are not described. 
The Bible is not a book of definitions. Not 
one of the writers of the New Testament has 
turned aside to define the terms used in his 
statement of facts or doctrine. Yet techni- 
calities abound. Use determines their mean- 
ing, so that they do not mislead. It would, 
indeed, seem next to impossible to give the 
full import of Scriptural terms, especially 
those that relate to the process of salvation, 
in the form of definitions. What definition 
of the word regeneration, for instance, would 
convey an adequate idea of the doctrine of 
the new birth ? What definition of the word 
repentance would indicate the requirement of 
Scripture with reference to godly sorrow for 
sin, and the condition of mind necessary to 
the reception of the spiritual blessings prom- 
ised to the penitent ? So we ask, what defini- 
tion of the word "faith" could any one give 
that would set forth the full import of faith as 
an exercise of the heart? No doubt these 
terms are used in their proper signification, so 
that no new or forced definitions are either 



FAITH. 49 

required or allowable ; yet after exhausting 
the fullest and truest definitions of the words, 
we are obliged to come back to the use and 
application made of them in the Scriptures be- 
fore we can grasp the length and breadth of 
their meaning. Faith indicates an exercise 
of the entire spiritual nature, a moving of the 
whole soul toward the invisible, under the 
guidance of the Word and Spirit of God, in a 
way not comprehensible as to its mode, much 
less described in the lexicons. It is at once 
the fruit of the Spirit and the act of man. It 
rests upon testimony received and understood, 
and yet it is a divine conviction, inwrought 
and sustained by spiritual power. It is the 
eye of the soul, looking out into the realm 
of the invisible, and discerning objects unseen 
by the material sense, and giving the realities 
of the world to come a veritable subsistence 
in the experience of the inner life. * ' Faith 
is the substance of things hoped for, the evi- 
dence of things not seen." 

To many minds the language just quoted 
will appear as an exception to the statement 
made in regard to definitions. They have 
been accustomed to regard it as a definition 

4, 



50 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

of faith, and will not readily accept a contrary 
statement. It has been by assuming that the 
apostle was here defining faith as to its con- 
stituent elements, that critics have uniformly 
found difficulty in explaining this verse ; and 
so long as that idea rules, difficulties will 
exist. In reality there is nothing in the pas- 
sage like a definition of the word faith. It 
is rather a description of what faith is to him 
who has it — a declaration of its office and 
service — and not an indication of its elements 
or properties. Faith is indeed to him who 
possesses it, and uses it aright, "the substance 
of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen." The eye is the guide to the foot- 
steps. It serves the purpose well, but "guide 
to the footsteps* * is not a definition of the 
word eye. "Love is the fulfilling of the law," 
but the predicate in this sentence is not the 
definition of the word love. In the same way 
it is said that ' ' faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 
In the light of this application of these 
words, we see how pertinently the achieve- 
ments of faith in the patriarchs were detailed 
as illustrations of the sentiment declared. A 



FAITH. 51 

living faith in the soul is indeed the base or 
foundation of the hope that apprehends all 
spiritual good, and the discovery of the invisi- 
ble things of God. By it we have a present 
realization of the blessedness awaiting us in 
the immortal state. This service it renders, 
as love serves to fulfill the law, and as the eye 
serves to guide the footsteps. Such service it 
rendered to the ancient worthies, who by it 
"obtained a good report/' and whose deeds 
of renown have become the inspiration of suc- 
ceeding generations, and whose example will 
be the heritage of the Church till the end of 
time. 

This view of the office of faith implies that 
there is in it somewhat that is divine. No un- 
aided human intellection can give subsistence 
within to the good that awaits us in heaven ; 
no mere act of the mind can apprehend 
the spiritual realities of the invisible world. 
The best performances of reason result in 
probabilities. Socrates thought on immortal- 
ity, and felt, and hoped, but could not assert 
its reality. Philosophers in all the ages have 
striven to lift the veil that hides the unseen, 
but in vain. Life and immortality are brought 



52 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

to light in the Gospel; and this revelation 
comes to the soul as a veritable demonstration, 
only in the light of the faith which stands not 
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 
Faith is the eye, and revelation the window, 
through which the soul looks up to God, and out 
into heaven, and scans the boundless realm of 
eternity. Divine truth is to faith what the 
atmosphere is to the natural sight. It is the 
medium of its activity and the guide of all its 
energies. It gives shape and color to all its dis- 
coveries and vividness to its visions. Within 
its scope faith walks with steady step, and soars 
with tireless wing, and stands fast in the wis- 
dom of God; but when in our impulsiveness 
we seek to push faith beyond the boundaries 
of revelation, it loses its divine support, and 
weakens and falters as other human powers. 
The divine element in faith is both subjec- 
tive and objective. God gives the faculties 
of faith, the powers of mind, and heart, and 
Avill, to be employed in studying and believing 
'his Word. He awakens in the soul the sense 
of guilt, and the consciousness of peril, neces- 
sary to start inquiry with reference to salvation, 
and he undoubtedly works with every impulse 



FAITH. 53 

that leads toward the acceptance of Christ ; 
but he does not displace human agency by 
himself believing for us, or by mechanically 
moving our minds into fixed grooves of 
thought. He works in us that we may have a 
good will, and with us when we have a good 
will. So, also, he gives the truth to be 
believed, the Savior to be trused, the heaven 
to be gained. He gives all the materials of 
faith, and the motives necessary to command 
its exercise and render it reasonable, and then 
he leaves the responsibility with ourselves. 

This doctrine concerning faith has its im- 
portant uses in practical life. It admonishes 
the careless that they can not select their own 
time to repent and believe the Gospel. If it 
be true that faith is dependent on moral con- 
ditions which the Holy Spirit must bring about 
in the soul, the folly of grieving the Spirit by 
neglect or resistance is manifest; for the ab- 
sence of the Spirit leaves an utter indisposition 
to repent, and therefore an incapability of 
exercising the faith that saves. Many are 
fatally deluded at this point. With the vague 
expectation of turning to God in time to escape 
perdition, forgetting their dependence on the 



54 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

Holy Spirit for the power to repent and be- 
lieve, they venture to the perilous verge, and 
even cross the line of probation, wrapt in the 
flattering deception that they can at will break 
off their sins by righteousness, and their 
iniquities by turning to the Lord, and awake 
from the soothing dream amid devouring fires. 
Forgetting the moral conditions of faith, they 
shut their eyes to the stealthy growth of 
obduracy, until, through the deceitfulness of 
sin, the incrustation upon their spiritual sensi- 
bilities becomes impervious to the power of 
truth, and then, blinded and stupefied, they 
rush onward in the way of destruction, vainly 
imagining that at some future time they will 
break the fetters that bind them, and return 
in penitence, and ask God's mercy and be 
saved. Presumptuous thought ! God com- 
mands faith. He affords all needed helps. 
He makes it duty and privilege, and upon it 
depend interests vast as eternity. For faith 
is the channel through which life from God 
flows to the soul. It is the mystic tie that 
binds the heart to Christ. li He that be- 
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life ; 
and he that believeth not the Son shall not 



FAITH. 55 

see life, but the wrath of God abideth on 
him." 

This faith is personal. It arises from a 
heart enlightened, and penetrated with a con- 
sciousness of its need of salvation, and it lays 
hold on Christ as its only refuge. It trusts 
Christ; it holds him fast, and looks to him 
as the risen, exalted, and living Redeemer, 
able to save. It is more than a faith about 
Christ; it is faith in him. It places in his 
hands every interest of the soul, with implicit 
confidence, expecting from him the fulfillment 
of every promise. 



56 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter IV. 

FAITH IMPUTED. 

IT is somewhat difficult, even for Christians, 
to form a proper estimate of the value of 
faith, in the Gospel method of saving sinners. 
It is the one grand condition of acceptance 
with God, the receiving or appropriating cause 
of justification, the channel of grace, and the 
foundation of all the virtues of the Christian 
character. Without faith it is impossible to 
please God. It is not strange, therefore, that 
it should be a theme of anxious thought 
with Christian, Jew, and heathen ; with the 
learned and the unlearned; the philosopher, 
the artisan, and the peasant. It is found 
interwoven with the prophecies and promises 
and types of the Scriptures, and mingling with 
the hopes and joys and privileges of the people 
of God, and has to do with the condition of 
the soul in time and in eternity. 

All the special blessings of the Gospel are 
ascribed to faith ; if men are justified, it is by 



FAITH IMPUTED. 57 

faith ; if they are born of God, it is by faith ; 
if they are sanctified, it is by faith; if they 
overcome the world, it is by faith ; and if they 
are finally saved, they " receive the end of 
their faith, even the salvation of their souls." 
It is by faith they live, by faith they stand, 
and by faith they walk. Faith makes prayer 
effectual, and gives character to every act of 
obedience, to every deed of service and char- 
ity, and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 

Among the many wonderful things predi- 
cated of faith in the Scriptures, is the fact that 
it is " imputed for righteousness." This word 
"imputed," though left out of the revised 
New Testament, is a good one, and its mean- 
ing easily understood when the word is prop- 
erly applied. The word substituted in the new 
version is of like import, and faith " reckoned 
for righteousness" is precisely the same as 
faith imputed. We retain the old word, which 
is familiar to all students, and yet without 
preference, so far as any shadow of meaning 
is concerned. 

But little is said of the "imputution of 
faith for righteousness" in the standards of the 
Church, or in the current theology of the 



58 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

times, and it is doubtful whether the grand 
idea of the inspired writers in relation to it is 
as fully comprehended, or as forcibly grasped 
as might be profitable. Perhaps the failure at 
this point, if failure it be, is owing to the old 
abuse of the word " impute," which has had 
such wide influence in shaping the terminology 
of the Churches. So much has been said 
about the imputation of Adam's sin and of 
Christ's righteousness, in a sense not warranted 
by the Scriptures, that many hesitate to use the 
word, even in its proper connection, lest it 
be misunderstood. In the pulpit, and in de- 
votional exercises, we may hear the unscrip- 
tural phrase, ' ' the imputed righteousness of 
Christ," a hundred times, where we will not 
hear an allusion to the imputation of ' s faith 
for righteousness" at all, unless the passages 
of Scripture be used in which the language is 
found. It must be that the mind of the 
Church has wandered in some way from the 
real idea of the apostles in regard to " imputa- 
tion." 

All of God's imputations are according to 
truth. He never imputes actions, good or 
bad, to any except the persons who performed 



FAITH IMPUTED. 



59 



them. He imputes guilt to the guilty, and 
innocence to the innocent. There is really 
no comprehensible sense in which Adam's sin 
is imputed to his posterity, although the con- 
sequences of it are entailed upon the race, 
and may be seen affecting every human soul, 
and prostrating every human body to the dust 
of death. Neither is there any sense which 
ordinary mortals can understand in which the 
personal obedience of Christ is imputed to 
the believer for justification, or imputed to 
him at all. It may be that those who speak 
flippantly of the "imputed righteousness of 
Christ' ' intend to be Scriptural in language, 
and doubtless they have in mind a vague no- 
tion of something they intend to express ; but 
certainly they forget the Antinomian origin 
and bearing of the phraseology, and fail to 
get hold of the apostolical idea of imputation. 
They probably intend only to speak of their 
dependence on Christ, and to exclude the 
merit of their own works as the ground of 
acceptance ; and if the language could be di- 
vorced from its history, and mean nothing 
more than is intended by many who use it, 
there might be no great impropriety in em- 



60 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ploying it. It is evidently because of this 
modern and comparatively harmless use of the 
phrase that it has been suffered to pass un- 
challenged to so great an extent. But still 
there always has been coupled with it, in the 
books, if not in the minds of the people, an 
unscriptural notion of the fall and of the 
evangelical process of justification. In spite 
of good intentions, the language conveys the 
idea that God accounts us guilty of Adam's 
sin, and that Christ's active obedience to the 
law is accounted ours, or imputed to us, as 
if we had in his person obeyed by proxy; 
and we do not think it possible to free the 
Church from this unscriptural doctrine so long 
as the language which teaches it is retained in 
the formularies of denominational faith. 

Of course, our reference is to the Churches 
known as Calvinistic ; for the language in 
question belongs to their standards. There is 
no difficulty in understanding the Confession 
of Faith and the Catechisms, so far as their 
essential teachings are concerned. With ad- 
mirable clearness they assert the federal char- 
acter of Adam, the fall of the race in him, 
the universal corruption of human nature, and 



FAITH IMPUTED. 6 1 

the dominion of death in the world in conse- 
quence of the first transgression ; and so far 
they substantially set forth the truth. But 
when they attempt to explain the methods 
and reasons of the divine procedure in dealing 
with men, they not only diverge from the line 
of Scriptural teaching, but they invent unsup- 
ported hypotheses, misapply the terms of the 
Bible, and cast a deep shadow upon the ad- 
ministration of the Almighty, which no human 
ingenuity can remove, and no human credulity 
can sustain. 

It is, perhaps, unfortunate for the evangel- 
ical faith that the old controversies between 
Calvinists and Methodists subsided before a 
complete understanding of each other was 
reached in regard to the entailment of Ad- 
am's sin and the ground of justification in the 
merits of Christ's death. It is evident that 
while there is apparent agreement upon the 
general statement of these points, there is 
much disagreement as to the details of the 
doctrines involved. The early Methodist writ- 
ers assailed the doctrines of unconditional 
election and reprobation and unavoidable per- 
severance with sufficient courage and zeal, but 



62 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

seemed inclined to avoid collision, as far as 
possible, with the incidental statements and 
details of the system, which were not then 
deemed fundamental. They were anxious to 
maintain friendly relations with their Calvin- 
istic neighbors, because of their agreement 
upon the great truths of the Gospel, and be 
cause of the common spirit of evangelism 
that pervaded their ranks ; and, therefore, in 
many instances they accepted Calvinistic state- 
ments with reference to the penalty of the 
law, and the imputation of sin and righteous- 
ness, to such an extent as to involve them- 
selves in some of the difficulties that beset 
that system. Mr. Wesley made a special 
effort to agree with Calvinists on " imputa- 
tion, " and went so far as to adopt their lan- 
guage, for the sake of peace, when he was 
compelled to dissent from the ideas they at- 
tached to it. Mr. Watson used their techni- 
calities, though in a modified sense, and by 
his leaning in that direction went to the border 
of self-contradiction. He distinguished be- 
tween the imputation of guilt and the imputa- 
tion of the legal results of guilt ; but the dis- 
tinction is exceedingly fine. Far better to 



FAITH IMPUTED. 63 

have abandoned the unscriptural language, and 
to have made more prominent the essential 
doctrine of the ' ' imputation of faith for right- 
eousness.' ' Mr. Fletcher consistently adhered 
to his own interpretation of the relation of the 
race to the first sin, and kept clear of Calvin- 
istic refinements and embarrassments; and stu- 
dents of the present day will find themselves 
gainers by a profound study of the ' ' Checks " 
before accepting any hypothesis in conflict 
with the views of their distinguished author. 
Calvinists themselves are not in harmony 
with reference to the interpretation of their 
own "standards" on the subject of imputa- 
tion. The more conservative, or those known 
as of the Princeton school, hold that the sin 
of Adam is imputed directly and immediately 
to his offspring, so that they are individually 
punished for that sin. Another class, whose 
inspiration probably comes from New Haven, 
seek to soften the doctrine by recognizing the 
ground of the imputation in the natural rela- 
tion of the race to the first sinner, and thus 
devise a "mediate imputation,' ' less repug- 
nant to the instinctive sense of justice than the 
other. Dr. Schaff, in his exposition of the 



64 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

fifth of Romans, supports the latter view, and 
Dr. Hodge, in his "Systematic Theology," 
elaborately defends the higher ground of im- 
mediate imputation. The tendency is strong, 
especially among the New England divines, tc 
revolt against the old fashion of teaching the 
imputation and punishment of the sin of 
Adam in his descendants, in infinite mutiples, 
to the last generation, and many struggle 
manfully to make such statements as will free 
themselves from the intuitive sense of wrong 
which this doctrine begets in reasoning minds ; 
but the "standards" thrust themselves in the 
way of their independent investigations, and 
by force of authority exclude the light that 
would lead them out of their bewilderment. 
We shall not trace further the points of agree- 
ment and difference between these two classes 
of Calvinistic writers, which would doubtless 
be interesting to many, but direct attention 
to a few points in regard to which we deem 
the whole system at fault, the "standards" 
and all. 

The first grand misconception of the whole 
subject, both at Princeton and New Haven, is 
with reference to the actual infliction of the 



FAITH IMPUTED. 65 

penalty incurred by the first sin. Not one 
of either class of Calvinistic writers appears 
to question the assumed fact that the penalty 
was executed upon the race so as to produce 
its natural results in the souls and bodies of 
men. Hence, they all make the capital mis- 
take of attempting to interpret the penalty of 
the first sin by what really occurred after the 
transgression in the experience of Adam and 
his descendants. Their position is that the 
penalty was literally executed, and that it falls 
alike upon Adam and his posterity. Dr. 
Hodge remarks concerning the latter, "The 
full penalty threatened against Adam has been 
inflicted upon them.' ' Another says, "What 
the threatened death meant is made clear in 
the evils actually inflicted for the first trans- 
gression." Now, we hold that this assump- 
tion that the penalty was actually inflicted, and 
brought forth its results so as to be inter- 
preted by the experience of Adam and his 
posterity, is utterly unwarranted, and is the 
source of some of the most serious errors that 
afflict the Church, the consequences of which 
can not be estimated. It entirely overlooks 
the transition of the fallen pair from under the 

5 



66 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

broken covenant of works to the covenant of 
grace ; it ignores the intervention of the re- 
demptive scheme in time to avert the impend- 
ing danger ; and it knows nothing of the first 
effects of the remedial agency in arresting the 
penalty incurred, and in securing to the guilty 
ones a new probation. In all our reading of 
Calvinistic authors, we have not found one who 
escapes the error against which we protest, 
or finds room for the new probation, unless 
we can conceive of a probation under penal 
conditions induced by the failure of a former 
trial, and which penal state is in the nature 
of things a finality. We readily concede that 
if the penalty had been executed literally, the 
experiences of those on whom it fell would 
have made clear the nature of the death threat- 
ened ; but if, instead of being literally exe- 
cuted, it was arrested in its course by the 
intervention of the "seed of the woman," so 
as to make way for another covenant and an- 
other probation, then the subsequent condition 
and experiences of the transgressors must be 
accounted for by the new order of things, in 
part at least, and by their relation to the 
promised deliverer. 



FAITH IMPUTED. 6? 

The great trouble with all classes of Cal- 
vinistic writers is to account for the entailment 
of depravity and death upon the race in con- 
sequence of the first sin. They labor to har- 
monize the stern fact of this entailment with 
the righteousness of the divine administra- 
tion—a most laudable undertaking. They 
agree that the suffering and death of little 
children is in punishment for sin ; that in 
some way sin in them deserves punishment, 
and is punished with death ; that mere sinful- 
ness without guilt does not deserve punish- 
ment ; and that, therefore, since guilt must 
be imputed to all that are punished, and since 
infants have no guilt of their own, the sin of 
Adam must be "imputed" to them. But to 
impute sin where it does not belong is simply 
falsehood, while God's imputations are always 
truthful. This doctrine of the "immediate 
imputation " of guilt to the innocent is mon- 
strous ; and the " realistic' ' idea of the par- 
ticipation of the race in the sin of Adam, by 
reason of natural relation, and the softened 
doctrine of the "mediate imputationists" af- 
fords little relief. 

The great fact remains that depravity and 



68 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

death are entailed on the race because of the 
sin of Adam. This we assert as broadly as 
do others, and we are not less interested in 
the solution of the problem. But no light 
comes from imputation. Depravity and death 
flow from the same fountain, and reach all the 
race in the same way. It can not be, there- 
fore, that death is the punishment for native 
depravity ; nor can it be that death comes as 
a penalty, in the proper sense of that word, 
for the first sin, unless depravity comes in the 
same way, and bears the same penal char- 
acter. But who can believe that the offspring 
of Adam are punished for his sin by having 
moral depravity judicially inflicted upon them? 
We do not believe it, and doubt whether our 
Calvinistic brethren would accept such a state- 
ment, although they affirm premises which in- 
volve that conclusion. It is better to distin- 
guish between the penalty and consequence 
of sin. The one is a positive judicial inflic- 
tion ; the other is the natural outflow from the 
act, or from the condition to which the act 
inevitably leads. The law inflicts the penalty 
of imprisonment for drunkenness ; but the 
effects of drunkenness are impaired health, pov- 



FAITH IMPUTED. 69 

erty, and disgrace. These are consequences, 
but the penalty is imprisonment. The penalty 
may be arrested, suspended, modified, or can- 
celed ; but the consequences remain. The 
penalty of the first sin was contravened by the 
institution of the new probation ; but the con- 
sequences were entailed upon the race by an 
invariable law of propagation. Adam begat 
a son in his own likeness. This tells the 
whole story. Suffering and death ensue as re- 
sults of the loss of the divine image, and of 
the loss of the right of access to the tree of 
life. Our condition in this world is not alto- 
gether penal. Depravity is our heritage, but 
not our punishment. The penal state is be- 
yond probation. 

In carrying out their views of "imputa- 
tion," Calvinistic writers not only assume that 
the penalty of the first sin was executed, and 
interpret it by the actual experiences of Adam 
and the race, but they further assume that the 
posterity of Adam would have been brought 
into conscious being under the penalty if there 
had been no redemption. To us this seems 
an error of unspeakable enormity. It de- 
stroys all possibility of interpreting the pen- 



JO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

alty in harmony with the ideas which Calvin- 
ists themselves attach to it in its application to 
sinners upon whom it falls after rejecting the 
provisional redemption ; and it leaves the rec- 
onciliation of the divine procedure with the 
common instincts of justice entirely out of the 
question. They will never escape bewilder- 
ment till they recognize the fact that the pen- 
alty executed would have cut off the first 
offenders without offspring, making the only 
conscious sinners the only conscious sufferers. 
Then they will dicover that the new probation 
of Adam arrested the penalty ; that the race 
owes its present probational existence to 
Christ; that all the evils of this life are not 
penal ; that both depravity and death come 
upon the race through the sin of Adam, as 
effects of the fall and not as judicial inflictions, 
and that these evils are permitted in view of 
the compensatory benefits which come through 
grace, in this life and in the life to come. 

Then, since we find nothing in the Scrip- 
tures requiring the imputation of Adam's sin 
to his posterity, and no ground for the as- 
sumption of the imputation of Christ's right- 
eousness to believers in justification, we come 



FAITH IMPUTED. j\ 

back to ascertain the meaning of the Scriptural 
doctrine of the ' ' imputation of faith for right- 
eousness." We can neither understand the 
office of faith nor the evangelical method of 
justification without studying this point. The 
first justification of Abraham, which occurred 
before the birth of Isaac, is the great illustra- 
tion of God's way of justifying sinners ; and 
strict adherence to the teaching of that strik- 
ing example will save us from the numerous 
errors which are prevalent on the subject. 
The Apostle Paul makes much of this exam- 
ple, and so should we. "For if Abraham 
were justified by works, he hath whereof to 
glory, but not before God. For what saith 
the Scripture ? Abraham believed God, and 
it was counted unto him for righteousness. 
Now to him that worketh is the reward not 
reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him 
that worketh not, but believeth on him that 
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
righteousness." There is nothing here about 
the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, 
although this is given by the apostle for the 
purpose of showing how it is that God justifies 
the ungodly, and imputes to them righteous- 



J2 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ness without works. It is impossible to con- 
ceive of a more appropriate place or occasion 
for the introduction of that thought, if it had 
been any part of the scheme of justification 
under consideration. The omission is remark- 
able and very suggestive. It can not be ex- 
plained except on the supposition that the 
idea of imputing Christ's righteousness to the 
believer had never gained possession of the 
apostle's mind, and we hazard nothing in as- 
suming that Paul had never encountered either 
the language or the sentiment. The only im- 
putation he knew any thing about in connec- 
tion with the doctrine of justification was 
the "imputation of faith for righteousness." 
Hence, after enlarging on the justification of 
Abraham, and showing how he became the 
friend of God, and was constituted " the father 
of all them that believe/ ' he returned to his 
great thought which contains the germ of the 
evangelical scheme, apparently for the pur- 
pose of emphasizing the importance of the 
imputation of the believer's own faith for right- 
eousness, and making this particular item in 
Abraham's experience the example for all 
men and for all time : " He staggered not at 



FAITH IMPUTED. 73 

the promise of God through unbelief, but was 
strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and being 
fully persuaded that what he had promised, he 
was able also to perform. And therefore it 
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now 
it was not written for his sake alone, that it 
was imputed to him, but for us, also, to whom 
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that 
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who 
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised 
again for our justification." 

Now, what is the meaning of all this? It 
does not mean that faith is made the ground 
of acceptance. The only ground of acceptance 
is the sacrificial death of Christ. Nor does it 
mean that the active obedience of Christ is 
made over to the believer. His active obe- 
dience was necessary to the completeness of 
his personal character, and to his fitness for 
the sacrifice he was to make for sins ; but it 
was never accounted our obedience, and never 
can be, for the reason that it was not ours in 
fact. Neither can it mean that there is in- 
trinsic merit in the act of faith that becomes 
an equivalent or substitute for righteousness. 
It can only mean that, in some way, faith 



74 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

identifies the believer with the merits of Christ's 
death, so that in consideration of that death 
alone, he who is not righteous in fact is treated 
as a righteous man, and is brought into such 
relation to God as on the score of justice be- 
longs only to the righteous. In other words, 
it means that faith in Christ is accepted, and 
answers the purpose and secures the benefits 
that personal righteousness would answer and 
secure if that were now a possibility. Abra- 
ham's faith secured exoneration from liability 
to punishment on account of his past sins; and 
our faith averts the penalty of transgression, 
and brings the favor of God, which comes not 
through the merit of faith, but through the 
merit of the Redeemer's blood, and through 
faith as the appointed channel or instrumen- 
tality. God's law, broken by every sinner, de- 
mands perfect obedience ; but that can not now 
be rendered, and instead of requiring the impos- 
sible, the atonement comes in and sets before 
the sinner a new condition of acceptance, 
which is graciously made possible, and through 
which all the real benefits of righteousness 
come to us in Christ by faith. Faith unites 
the believer to Christ, and secures acceptance 



FAITH IMPUTED. 75 

as perfectly as it ever could have been secured 
by obedience. Perfect righteousness would 
have resulted in justification ; faith accounted 
for righteousness does the same thing. There 
is in this no fictitious imputation of what does 
not belong to us, but simply the acceptance of 
faith in the atonement as the condition of par- 
don and the recognition of its office as the 
receiving cause of justification. It is a very 
simple thing when properly understood, but 
in it is found the wisdom of God, and the 
most wonderful display of his boundless grace. 



76 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter V. 

PARDON— FORGIVENESS. 

THE first blessing offered the penitent is 
pardon, or the forgiveness of his sins. It 
is first because it is most needed, and in the 
nature of things precedes all other benefits 
and privileges. It comes just in time to meet 
the want of the struggling soul, and to remove 
all hindrances to the free and triumphant flow 
of divine grace which supplies all spiritual 
necessities. 

There are times when the doctrine of par- 
don, or forgiveness through the blood of Christ, 
possesses but little charm for the human heart. 
While the flow of life is undisturbed by any 
convictions of sin ; while worldliness prevails, 
and the whisperings of conscience are un- 
heard ; while the spiritual senses sleep, and all 
goes smoothly on in fancied security, this 
whole subject of forgiving grace seems dry 
and speculative, and fails to excite feeling or 
call forth any earnest attention. But there are 



PARDON— FORGIVENESS. J J 

other times when the fact that ' ' with God 
there is forgiveness," becomes the most pre- 
cious truth that can reach the heart. When 
the slumber of the soul is broken, and under 
the influence of God's Word and Spirit the 
sinner becomes aware of his lost condition, 
and feels the pressure of the burden of guilt, 
nothing is so much desired as assurance that 
God can forgive sin through the redemption 
that is in Jesus Christ. 

Pardon is so related to justification by faith 
that the fuller treatment will be under that 
heading: in this chapter brief and general 
statements must suffice. Pardon is purely a 
doctrine of revelation. Some things might be 
learned of God without the Bible, but not the 
fact that he will forgive sins. His being, his 
power and wisdom shine through all his works, 
so that reasoning minds can look through 
nature up to nature's God, and learn some- 
thing of his greatness ; but there is not a voice 
in all the realm of nature to whisper of pardon 
to the penitent heart. Without the manifes- 
tations of mercy that come to us through the 
Scriptures, we could not so much as know 
that God is kind and benevolent, much less that 



78 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

his compassion extends to the guilty and re- 
bellious. In the disorders of the world the 
evidences of sin may be seen, and especially 
can its presence and power be found in the 
disclosures of the individual consciousness, 
but that its guilt may be canceled, its power 
broken, and its results so turned aside as to 
admit the light of the divine countenance into 
the soul, can be known only through the rev- 
elation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Pardon is God's own act. There was per- 
tinence in the inquiry of the Jews, "Who 
can forgive sins but God only?" Sin is an 
offense against God, a transgression of his law, 
a denial of his authority, and he only can 
forgive. The act takes place in the divine 
mind, and can not, therefore, be performed by 
any other than God himself. Through what- 
ever agency or instrumentality the evidence 
of pardon is communicated to the recipient, 
or by whatever means it is symbolized or 
sealed, the act itself is God's act. The right 
to perform it has not been given to any other. 
No higher arrogance can be imagined than 
for men to assume to dispense pardons for 
offenses committed against the Most High. 



PARDON— FORGIVENESS. 79 

As the right to forgive belongs to God 
aione, and as the act is his, so also is it his 
prerogative to fix the terms of pardon. This 
he has done, according to the riches of his 
grace, connecting it with the name of Jesus 
Christ, with faith as its essential condition. 
If it had been made to depend on ourselves 
alone, or on our fellow men, or on the ordi- 
nances of the Church, the prospect of success 
in gaining this inestimable blessing would be 
greatly lessened ; but the name of Jesus is the 
amplest guarantee that there need be no fail- 
ure. His merit is equal to the sternest neces- 
sities, and his name may be pleaded with the 
highest confidence, as it is always accessible 
and ever available. Well for us that pardon is 
through him. 

Pardon implies the removal of guilt. It 
differs from acquittal. The latter term is ap- 
plied where guilt is charged, but not estab- 
lished. The innocent man, when found to be 
innocent, is acquitted. He is not pardoned, 
but justified as an innocent man. In such 
case there is no forgiveness. But the sinner 
is not innocent. The dreadful fact of his 
guilt is established, and can not be ignored. 



80 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

If he be delivered from guilt it must be by 
cancellation — by blotting out the record of the 
guilt — a work which God only can perform. 
Hence pardon is not an act of acquittal, but 
the reversal or revocation of the condemna- 
tory sentence of the law. This act takes 
away the guilt of sin by expiation, and re- 
moves its legal results, including the penalty, 
so that the sinner escapes from punishment 
as effectually as by acquittal. The sacrifice 
of Christ expiates the guilt provisionally, and 
faith in Christ makes the expiation actual, 
and delivers from condemnation. The rela- 
tion of the atonement to pardon is one of the 
great questions in theology. God has de- 
termined that relation in infinite wisdom, and 
has been graciously pleased to reveal to us 
the fact and result, without gratifying our 
curiosity by telling us all we would like to 
know about the reasons and the processes 
involved. It pertains to our probation to ac- 
cept gratefully the revelation as made, to 
rejoice in the assurance of pardon through 
the sacrificial blood, and await the disclosures 
of eternity for the solution of the mysteries 
which now surround the subject. 



PARDON— FORGIVENESS. 8 1 

Pardon is never alone. It implies the an- 
tecedent grace of penitence, and regeneration 
always accompanies the revelation of pardon 
in the heart. The Spirit of God alone, that 
searcheth all things and knovveth all things, 
even the deep things of God, knows when 
the act of pardon passes in the divine mind, 
and that Spirit alone can make known the 
fact to our souls. The Spirit doubtless be- 
gins the revelation as soon as the act occurs, 
but our dullness sometimes delays the full sat- 
isfaction which the evidence of pardon brings. 
We falter when the evidence is presented, and 
often only by degrees, almost imperceptible, 
do we rise to the full confidence of faith. 
Pardon itself is a single act; but the realiza- 
tion of it in the heart by faith, through the 
evidences which the Spirit gives, admits of a 
great variety of experiences, and in many in- 
stances the evidences are so gradually per- 
ceived that the consciousness fails to fix the 
date of the full persuasion of personal accept- 
ance in Christ. 

Pardon is perfect in itself. Perhaps this 

idea will be as well conveyed if we say the 

act of pardon is comprehensive, and covers 

6 



82 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

all our sins. As we do not in repentance 
recount all our sinful acts, and could not if 
we would, nor repent of them separately with 
all the circumstances of each offense, so we are 
not pardoned in detail. The penitent heart, 
with all it contains, is accepted ; the person is 
forgiven, and all — yes, all — his sins are blotted 
out when the condemnation of the law is 
removed. God does not pardon some sins 
and leave others unforgiven. The new-born 
babe in Christ is justified freely from all things 
which the law of Moses could never remove ; 
he is personally accepted, and his whole life 
of sin is cast into the deep. Every child of 
God, however slow to apprehend the astound- 
ing fact, is free from guilt, free from con- 
demnation, and therefore dead to all past sins. 
If the results of old biases and habits and pas- 
sions remain, and consequent evil tendencies 
spring up to prove that the carnal nature is not 
wholly destroyed, at least all that pollutes or 
condemns from the former life is taken away. 
The Spirit of adoption that ensues bears wit- 
ness to a new creation in which old things 
have passed away and all things have become 
new. And this one comprehensive act of 



PARDON— FORGIVENESS. 83 

pardon needs not to be repeated. It takes the 
soul into the divine favor, where it may abide 
and grow and abound in all spiritual graces, 
and where it may continually rest on the merits 
of Christ, finding acceptance in him, and may 
enjoy a continuous appropriation of his blood 
to the exclusion of the imputation of guilt. 
This is our high calling in Christ. Alas ! how 
few verify its blessedness in actual experience ! 
The imperfections in our services, the errors 
and wrong actions incident to our condition 
in life — even though our abiding in Christ 
prevent the imputation of guilt — will ever 
require us to pray, "Forgive us our tres- 
passes." God be praised that this habitual 
prayer may be habitually answered ! 

Pardon may be forfeited. This fact gives 
emphasis to the blessedness of the man whose 
sins are forgiven, whose guilt is canceled, and 
to the assurance given to the faithful that their 
sins, which have been blotted out, shall be 
4 'remembered against them no more forever." 
Pardon stands as security for all the past, so 
long as the persons forgiven stand fast in their 
integrity. If they abide in Christ, and sin 
not, the work of grace begun in them will be 



84 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

carried on to completion ; but if they forsake 
him and betray their trust, they sever their 
connection with him, and throw themselves 
back upon the legal economy, to stand before 
God on their deserts, with their pardon for- 
feited and their whole record of sin against 
them. What else means the Almighty, when 
he says by Ezekiel, ' ' When I shall say to the 
righteous that he shall surely live ; if he trust 
to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, 
all his righteousness shall not be remembered ; 
but for his iniquity that he hath committed he 
shall die for it?" And what else means the 
Savior's parable of the lord and his servants, 
wherein he describes a servant as obtaining 
the forgiveness of a large debt which he owed 
his lord, and afterward as being cast into 
prison till he should pay it all, even the last 
farthing, because of his severity in dealing 
with his fellow- servant? If this parable mean 
any thing, it means that the servant forfeited 
his pardon after obtaining it, by his sub- 
sequent ungrateful conduct. This forfeiture 
brought with it liability for the old debt. 
The thought is amazing and fearful. If we 
apostatize from Christ we forfeit our pardon, 



PARDON—FORGIVENESS. 8 5 

lose our interest in his blood, have our names 
blotted from the book of life, and our old 
sins rise up again, and our guilt remains, en- 
hanced by the special grace abused. 

Evangelical Christianity alone offers a free 
and full pardon of sins to all that come to 
God with sincere repentance and hearty faith 
in Jesus Christ. Romanism offers salvation 
by penance and sacrifices and the merit of 
human works, joined to sacramental rites de- 
pendent on the will of fallible priests. Liber- 
alism offers the forgiveness of sins after their 
ill-deserts have all been endured, holding to 
no expiation but in personal suffering, and 
knowing nothing of a pardon that releases 
from liability to punishment. It claims its 
moral power in the certainty and unavoidabil- 
ity of penalty, which no pardon can obviate 
and no mercy mitigate, but seeks to soften 
its rigorous tones by holding that all penalty 
is reformatory and beneficial. Higher than 
these false systems, and better for all the 
race, because truer to God's Word and to the 
wants of men, is the primal fact that repent- 
ance and forgiveness of sins are preached to 
all men in the name of Jesus Christ. 



86 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, 



Chapter VI. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 

THE doctrine of justification by faith oc- 
cupies a controlling position in the sys- 
tem of Christian theology. So long as indi- 
viduals or Churches hold with firm grasp the 
plain testimony of the Scriptures on this sub- 
ject, other doctrines, including some that ap- 
pear only remotely connected with this, and 
scarcely at all dependent upon it, will readily 
adjust themselves to the Gospel standard, and 
give harmony and symmetry to the evangel- 
ical scheme of saving sinners. It is not im- 
probable that too little attention has been paid 
to the relations of the doctrines to each other, 
as well as to the practical purposes of life. 
Those truths which are essential to the integ- 
rity of the plan of salvation are not so inde- 
pendent of each other as to permit us to em- 
brace some and reject others without detri- 
ment. They are not pedestals, each standing 
alone upon its own base, but rather links in a 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. Sy 

chain firmly connected, and forming in their 
union a perfect whole, but powerless and val- 
ueless when dissevered. 

Justification by faith is that particular link 
which connects the soul with Christ, and brings 
him into saving relations with men on earth. 
Here his life and spirit and power come into 
efficient contact with awakened consciences 
and penitent hearts, bringing the throbs of a 
new life and the gleams of a new day to the 
soul lost in darkness and dead in sin. Destroy 
this link of the chain and the whole is useless. 
The name of Christ, if retained, will have 
lost its charm. His blood will be robbed of 
its meritorious efficacy, and his Spirit will be 
reduced to a sentiment or a temper, with no 
power to quicken the soul into the life of 
righteousness. Along with this displacement 
of Christ will come an undue exaltation of 
human virtues and the diminution of the tur- 
pitude of sin^ till the presence of guilt shall 
cease to alarm and the need "of humiliation 
become a dream. Then the pomp of worship 
will take the place of an inward groaning for 
salvation, and the services of the sanctuary 
will be required to charm the senses, to min* 



88 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ister to aesthetic tastes, and to nourish the 
vanity of the heart, without disturbing the 
emotions or stirring the depths of the soul 
with longings after God and purity. 

The prominence given to this doctrine in 
the pulpit, and the fidelity with which its 
proper relation to other truths is maintained, 
may be safely accepted as indicating the 
spirituality of the Church. Not that justifica- 
tion should be taken as the highest possible 
attainment, for it is not. To make the expe- 
rience of this blessing the summit of the 
Christian life, would dishonor it, and rob it 
of its power. It is not the summit, but it is 
the ground of all genuine experience. It is 
the first real blessing — the first power over sin 
— offered to the penitent on coming to Christ ; 
the first he realizes in the warm glow of his 
trusting heart as he takes hold of the sacrifi- 
cial death by faith, and finds made over to 
him the efficacy of the atoning blood ; for 
then, and never till then, he finds within him- 
self the consciousness of the new life in Christ. 
And as this blessing is the first, so also is it 
the ground on which must rest all other ex- 
periences — the foundation that must support 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 89 

the whole superstructure of attainment, and 
enjoyment, and character. Take away this 
gracious privilege — this divine acceptance — 
this union of the soul with Christ — and spir- 
itual disaster ensues. Put out the light of this 
grace, and you will look in vain for the " fruit 
of the Spirit. " Obscure the evidence of it, 
and peace is destroyed ; distort and pervert it, 
and the darkness of night prevails ; push it out 
of its relations, and the mists of uncertainty 
and the gloom of doubt will overspread the 
spiritual sky, blighting the fairest hope that 
springs from desire. 

But so long as this doctrine is clearly ap- 
prehended in the pulpit and in the pews, and 
its experience verified, with its evidences and 
concomitants, there is not the slightest danger 
that the Church will rest in a merely justified 
state. The pathway to higher attainments 
will appear so plain that the humblest disciple, 
standing in the light of God's justifying grace, 
will long to go up and possess the land of 
holiness. To grow in grace, to the believer 
thus situated, is natural and easy. Helps 
spring up on every side. There are conflicts, 
to be sure, and will be, but the fiercer ones are 



go 



CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



on the lower level. The hardest-fought bat- 
tles of the Christian life are for the indisputa 
ble evidences of justifying love. Hold that 
citadel, and the enemy is powerless. Keep 
that sky clear, and no cloud shall obscure the 
Sun of righteousness. Temptations will assail, 
but they shall not harm. "It is God that 
justifieth; who is he that condemneth?" Jus- 
tifying faith gives us the vantage ground in 
every spiritual battle, and assures us victory 
over every spiritual foe. Nor is it possible to 
gain the higher ground of complete holiness, 
without the distinct consciousness of justifying 
faith. Paul made this the starting-point of all 
subsequent attainments : ' ' Therefore being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ ; by whom also 
we have access by faith into this grace wherein 
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of 
God." The act of justification removes all 
legal obstructions out of the way of further 
advancement, and faith conquers self, and be- 
gets a hungering and thirsting after righteous- 
ness which refuses to be satisfied with less 
than the fullness of God. In this respect it 
does what nothing else can do, and that which 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. g\ 

is indispensable to the favor of God and the 
life of holiness. It brings the soul into the 
necessary relations with the Holy Spirit, and 
furnishes it with the armor required in the 
warfare against sin. From lower experiences 
than justifying grace, glimpses of the higher 
life may be caught, like gleams of sunlight 
from the distant mountain tops, but the ascent 
can never be made without first planting the 
feet firmly upon this solid ground. 

What made Paul the hero that he was? 
What gave him the courage to dare the perils 
of the land and sea; to face the hate and 
malice of men and devils ; to suffer hunger 
and nakedness, imprisonment and death? 
What was the inspiration of his zeal, the sup- 
port of his peerless life? "I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I 
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the 
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for 
me." Such words unlock the mystery of his 
consecration, and reveal the secret of his power 
with God and men. What lifted Luther out 
of the dull formalities of cloister-life, and sent 
him out to grapple with the intrenched torces 
of superstition, backed as they were by the 



92 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

powers of the world ? It was nothing other 
than the discovery of the long-neglected truth, 
that the sinner is justified before God only- 
through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by faith, and not for his own works and 
deservings. This was the key-note of the 
Reformation. Before it the Romish hierarchy 
trembled and quaked. John Calvin, too, with 
all his dark speculations on fate, foreknowledge, 
and stern decrees, saw clearly this one precious 
truth, and in its light was emboldened to 
stand up for Christ and the rights of con- 
science. John Wesley studied much and 
labored long to find rest before he was able 
to lay hold of Christ by simple faith; but 
this point gained, and his " heart strangely 
warmed," then the path of duty, no less toil- 
some than before, was all radiant with the light 
of heaven; and then began that marvelous 
career which culminated in the triumphant 
shout from the bed of death, "The best of 
all is, God is with us!" 

Others have essayed to effect reformations 
and have failed. But a few years ago the 
eyes of Christian people were turned to Hya- 
cinthe, and many trusted that he was provi- 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 93 

dentially called to bring light and liberty to 
the spiritually enthralled people of France ; 
for he had seen the errors of Romanism in its 
ecclesiastical rule, and had felt its power, and 
dared to brave its wrath ; but why has he not 
risen in the might of the greatness he pos- 
sesses and shaken the pillars of the papacy? 
Alas ! he has not learned that faith in Christ 
justifies the soul. His lurking reliance on 
sacramental grace is his weakness. Until he 
breaks this bond he must continue a brilliant 
failure, weak and helpless as other men. And 
there is the old German scholar and thinker, 
Dollinger, professor in one of the largest uni- 
versities, who has demonstrated the fallibility 
of the pope, thrown off his yoke, and shown 
learning enough to confound every Jesuitical 
opponent that dared encounter his logic and 
facts; and yet, venerable and learned and 
earnest as has been this champion of "Old 
Catholicism," he too must stand feeble as a 
child before the superstitions he detests, till 
he learns that Jesus Christ is the only priest 
of the Christian dispensation, and that faith in 
his blood, without the deeds of the law or the 
sacraments of the Church, justifies the un- 



94 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

godly, and brings upon the soul the regen- 
erating power of the Holy Ghost. 

There is power in this doctrine. It reveals 
to men's consciousness the utter worthlessness 
of human virtues and of mere ceremonies, 1 
as the ground of acceptance, and leads to the 
abandonment of all confidence in self, as 
nothing else can do. In the light of it men 
readily see the sinfulness of the unrenewed 
heart, and cease to stumble at the terrible fact 
of the corruption of human nature. They 
stand aghast before the disclosures of their 
inner lives, and tremble to know that God is 
just, his law holy, and his testimonies sure ; 
but they find in the riches of grace in Jesus 
Christ the foundation of a good hope, and the 
strong consolation their souls need. It is by 
thus showing to men their own hearts, and 
their pressing needs, and the rich provisions 
of grace, that this fundamental truth, clearly 
apprehended, holds so many other truths in 
proper relation. Such virulent depravity as it 
reveals demands a radical cure. None but a 
divine Redeemer can deliver from such immi- 
nent peril ; none but a divine Spirit can 
quicken a soul so truly dead in sins. It shows 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. g$ 

our dependence on Christ. Without him we 
can do nothing. He is the only mediator. 
We need no other. All human merits would 
fail to enhance the value of his if they could 
be added thereto, His one offering for sin 
perfected forever all who by faith avail them- 
selves of his sacrifice. We need no priestly 
office on earth since he ascended into heaven. 
False and pretentious are all earthly priesthoods 
since his one offering for sin. The way into 
the holiest is now manifest by his death. The 
throne of grace is accessible through his blood. 
The holiest men that live find Christ their 
only refuge in the last hour. His blood alone 
cleanses. His Spirit alone quickens the soul. 
From his death springs every hope that cheers 
life's toil, or blooms around the solitude of the 
grave. Have we peace? It is from Christ 
in justification. He is our peace. Have 
we joy? It flows from his love. Have we 
strength? It is by his Spirit dwelling in us. 
Have we light? It is his smile. Have we 
fellowship one with another? It is he who 
raises us up and makes us sit together in heav- 
enly places. In him we have all things, for 
he is all and in all to us. And in all Christ 



g6 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

is to us there is nothing we do not need. 
Not one jot or title of his work was super- 
fluous. In becoming the author of salvation 
it behooved him to be made perfect through 
suffering. It was necessary that he should 
suffer and die and rise and ascend. No 
needless grace is given. The righteous are 
"scarcely saved." The best have nothing to 
spare ; the holiest have nought whereof to 
boast. Without Christ we are poor and blind 
and miserable and lost. With natures cor- 
rupt, and lives unrestrained and selfish and 
sensual, our very sorrow is sin and death. 
Yes, we need Christ; we need his redeeming 
grace, his pardoning love ; we need it without 
our merit, and without our works ; we need it 
just as the Gospel offers it, without money or 
price, as the gift of God through faith. "By 
grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not 
of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; not of 
works, lest any man should boast. " This is 
the good news to the perishing, the Gospel 
needed by all mankind. Let it be more than 
a dogma in the Church. 

This doctrine is the power of God and the 
wisdom of God. When accepted as from 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 97 

God, and taken up into the spiritual nature, 
and allowed to become a veritable part of the 
inner life, it vitalizes and consecrates the 
energies of redeemed manhood, and sends 
men out upon their mission in life, moved by 
an impulse which they themselves can not 
understand, and often makes moral heroes of 
those who least expected to become such. 
It is the life of God in the soul. 

7 



98 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter VII. 

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 

IT is well, even while studying the doctrine 
of justification as a question of experience, 
to take a little closer view of its theological 
aspects. 

The word justification has several appli- 
cations. It is used of the man who is just 
and righteous, against whom no accusation 
can be brought. It is used, also, of the man 
against whom accusation is made, and not 
sustained. He defends himself and is ac- 
quitted. He is justified, not condemned. 
The apostles use it in an additional sense. 
The man is accused, is guilty, condemned; 
he is not innocent, and can not be pronounced 
innocent; then in what sense can he be jus- 
tified? In the sense of pardon. By the act 
of God his guilt is canceled ; its legal results 
are remitted. The condemnatory sentence of 
the law is revoked. He who was not right- 
eous is treated as righteous ; and this not by 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 99 

a legal fiction, but by faithful judicial action, 
made possible and righteous by the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ. This is the justification 
of the sinner, the topic in hand. 

The authoritative statement of this doc- 
trine is in the Ninth Article of Religion of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, as follows : 
"We are accounted righteous before God, 
only for the merit of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own 
works or deservings; wherefore, that we are 
justified by faith only is a most wholesome 
doctrine, and very full of comfort." This, in 
the Church of England, and in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in America, is the Elev- 
enth Article. The Westminster "Confession 
of Faith" is distinct enough in ascribing jus- 
tification to faith as the only receiving or 
instrumental cause, but so encumbers the sub- 
ject with limitations to the elect, with im- 
puted righteousness, and with dependence on 
effectual calling and eternal decrees, as greatly 
to hinder the proper conception of its sim- 
plicity and evangelical character. 

The most formal Scriptural statement of 
the doctrine is the following: "Being jus- 



IOO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

tified freely by his grace through the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath 
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in 
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the 
remission of sins that are past, through the 
forbearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this 
time his righteousness, that he might be just, 
and the justifier of him which believeth in 
Jesus." The analysis of this passage in the 
original, and as given in the New Version, as 
well as above, will bring out several points: 
I. That justification is used so as to include 
the idea of pardon. 2. That it is a forensic 
term, pointing to a judicial action which 
occurs in the divine mind. 3. That it is an 
act of righteousness as well as of grace or 
clemency. 4. That the redeeming act of 
Christ renders the clemency possible and con- 
sistent with justice and good government. 
5. That faith is as indispensable to the justifi- 
cation as is the propitiation. 6. That the 
whole benefit comes freely to us, without price 
and without merit on our part. There are 
also three causes of justification distinctly 
marked — the originating cause, the procuring 
cause, and the receiving cause. The first is 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. IOI 

"grace;" the second is the "propitiation," 
the blood of Christ; the third is "faith." 
These points cover the whole ground. 

Upon the first point it is only necessary to 
remark that the whole of salvation, including 
every aspect of blessing and of the saving 
process, comes from the grace of God as its 
source or fountain. God was offended, his 
law broken, his government despised, his au- 
thority set at naught, by human transgression. 
As the righteous ruler, he could have en- 
forced his law to the execution of the penalty 
upon the first offenders, which would have cut 
them down without posterity, and in their 
persons have ended the history of their race ; 
but, instead of this rigorous administration, 
he was moved with compassion, and instituted 
the scheme of redemption, which stayed the 
penalty, renewed the probation of Adam, and 
placed the whole of his posterity under a dis- 
pensation of mercy. Hence, life and proba- 
tion, and every blessing and every influence 
that tends to uplift humanity and bring the 
soul into fellowship with God, is of grace. 
Grace devised the scheme of redemption ; 
grace provided the ransom ; grace touches the 



102 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

soul with resuscitating influence, producing its 
first longings for the divine life ; and grace 
works within by the Holy Spirit, giving power 
to repent and believe and turn to God. "By 
grace are ye saved. ". 

The second point, which affirms that the 
blood of Christ is the meritorious cause of 
justification, is not less important. We are 
justified '" through the redemption that is in 
Christ Jesus. " This is equivalent to the as- 
sertion in the Article of Faith which says, 
"We are accounted righteous before God, 
only for the merit of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ." His sacrificial death is the 
" propitiation,' ' and upon that ground alone 
could God be just and the justifier of him 
which believeth. This proposition is amply 
sustained by the following additional Scrip- 
tures : " But God commendeth his love toward 
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us. Much more then, being justified 
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
through him. For if when we were enemies, 
we were reconciled to God by the death of 
his Son, mueh more, being reconciled, we 
shall be saved by his life." "Thus it is writ- 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 1 03 

ten, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and 
to rise from the dead the third day ; and that 
repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name among all nations, be- 
ginning at Jerusalem." "But we see Jesus, 
who was made a little lower than the angels 
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
and honor, that he, by the grace of God, 
should taste death for every man. For it be- 
came him for whom are all things, and by 
whom are all things, in bringing many sons 
unto glory, to make the Captain of their sal- 
vation perfect through sufferings." "Unto 
him that loved us, and washed us from our 
sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings 
and priests unto God and his Father — to him 
be glory and dominion for ever and ever." 
From these and kindred passages it appears, 
first, that the death of Christ was necessary 
in order to procure salvation ; secondly, that 
his death did in fact provide salvation ; thirdly, 
that to him belongs all the glory of salvation : 
therefore, first, in him is all the merit; and, 
secondly, the merit of our own works and de- 
servings, even if they could have any merit, 
is excluded. If we are justified and saved 



104 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

only for the merit of Christ, our song in heaven 
will be, " Unto him that loved us and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood." But if 
we are justified and saved by the merit of our 
own works and deservings, we shall sing, 
" Mine own arm hath gotten me the victory !" 

The third point in our statement affirms 
that faith is the receiving cause of our justifi- 
cation. This means that faith is the condition, 
the appropriating cause, or the instrumentality 
through which justification comes to us. The 
phrase instrumental cause is not so good, since 
the instrument is something external to us. 
As the receiving cause, faith is the hand by 
which we reach out and take the proffered 
blessing and make it our own. By this act 
of faith we are justified. In the Article of 
Religion this fact is recognized, and faith is 
declared the "only" condition. (< We are 
justified by faith only. " This last assertion 
has excited much controversy and strong op- 
position. We must, therefore, look into it a 
little more carefully. 

The fact that faith is the condition of per- 
sonal acceptance requires no additional proof. 
But what is meant by " faith only?" The 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 105 

word only is an exclusive term ; but what does 
it exclude ? Those who object to its use press 
it to extremes. For instance, we have been 
told that ''faith only" is faith without grace, 
without the blood of Christ, without the truth, 
and without obedience. Plainly this is absurd, 
and the language in question means nothing 
of the kind. " Faith only " does not exclude 
the grace of God from its plage in justifica- 
tion, but recognizes it, and receives and ap- 
propriates it. It does not exclude the blood 
of Christ ; for the faith that justifies takes 
hold of the blood as the meritorious ground 
of the blessing. It does not exclude the 
truth ; for it is supported and directed to its 
object and end by the truth. It does not ex- 
clude obedience, but produces obedience, and 
evidences itself as genuine and living by obe- 
dience. The faith which is the "only" re- 
ceiving cause of justification is not alone. It 
is not a dead faith. But while it is in fact not 
alone, it is only the faith, and not its accom- 
paniments, that reaches forth and takes the 
blessing ; it is only the faith that unites the 
soul to Christ and appropriates his merits. 
We are justified by grace ; and in the sphere 



106 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

of grace, or in the particular respect in which 
grace operates, it is by grace only. Grace is 
the only originating cause of justification. We 
are justified by the blood of Christ; and in the 
sphere of the blood — that is, so far as the 
ground or the meritorious cause is concerned — 
it is by his blood only. There is no other 
ground of justification, no other merit, no 
other price ; nothing is added to the blood to 
aid it in the work of redemption. It is, there- 
fore, by the blood of Christ "only. " Let it, 
then, be understood that it is in this sense 
that we are "justified by faith only;" that 
nothing else comes into the sphere of faith, or 
acts as the condition or receiving cause of jus- 
tification. In one aspect, it is by grace only ; 
in another aspect, it is by blood only ; and 
in still another aspect, it is by faith only. 
"It is of faith, that it might be by grace." 
Grace and faith, each in its sphere, looks to 
the same end, and that is the end for which 
the blood of Christ was shed. Grace fur- 
nished the sacrifice, and faith accepts and 
trusts in it, and justification results. 

The apostle presents the subject in this 
light, in the following : ' ' Now to him that 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 1 07 

worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, 
but of debt. But to him that worketh not, 
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, 
his faith is counted for righteousness. Even 
as David also describeth the blessedness of the 
man unto whom God imputeth righteousness 
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose 
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are 
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord will not impute sin." It is evident that 
the " imputation of faith for righteousness," 
the imputation of " righteousness without 
works," the "forgiveness," the "covering of 
of sin," and the "non-imputation of sin," are 
all equivalent to justification, and the justifi- 
cation is that of the "ungodly," who "work- 
eth not, but believeth." It is, in other words, 
a justification by "faith only" — by faith with- 
out works, or sacraments, or ceremonies, or 
any other thing as conditions or receiving 
causes. It is precisely the justification which 
the Article of Religion pronounces a "most 
wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort." 
Since the justification is by " faith only, M and 
yet the faith is not alone, perhaps an illustra- 
tion will aid in understanding it. Suppose the 



108 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

government should issue a proclamation to 
the effect that a quarter section of land should 
be given to each married man of the freedmen 
of the South, on the sole condition that he 
record his name, with his own hand, in a book 
provided for the purpose in the city of Wash- 
ington. Here is one condition, and one only; 
but that one condition implies several things. 
He who would avail himself of it must, of 
course, be a freedman and be married ; he 
must know how to write his name, and he 
must go to Washington, and there he must 
write his name. The learning to write, and the 
going to Washington, are incidents, necessary 
in order to meet the condition, but they are 
not the condition. So conviction of sin, godly 
sorrow, and all that makes up repentance, and 
prayer, and consecration, and the study of 
the Scriptures, may precede the act of faith, 
and may be necessary to it; but not one of 
these things is the condition — not one nor all 
can do what faith does. It is only faith that 
justifies. 

It is sometimes objected that the works 
excluded are the ' ' works of the law, " the 
ceremonial services of the Jewish dispensation, 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. IO9 

and that works of piety and charity are plainly 
revvardable, and therefore must have some 
influence in our justification before God. 

This brings up the whole question of works, 
and their relation to justification. In con- 
sidering this subject we must remember that 
there are several distinct justifications taught 
in the Scriptures. The first is the "free gift," 
which, through the righteousness of one, 
"came upon all men unto justification of life." 
This is generally called the initial or the infantile 
justification, as it includes the entire human 
family, placing them in a state of freedom 
from condemnation, and starting them in life 
exempt from liability to punishment, either 
for the sin of Adam or for their own inherited 
evil nature. The second is the justification 
of the sinner, in the sense of pardon and per- 
sonal acceptance. This is the justification in 
question, which is by faith only. The third 
is the justification of the righteous, in the 
sense of approval. This is by works, or obe- 
dience as the result of a living faith. The 
fourth has respect to the transactions of the 
day of judgment. At that time men will be 
justified or condemned according to their 



IIO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

works. The reason of this final justification 
of the righteous will not be found in them- 
selves, but in the Savior as its source ; never- 
theless, the decision will be according to the 
deeds done in the body, or upon the testimony 
of works as the fruit of faith. 

Our present discussion relates to the sec- 
ond justification, that of the sinner, in the 
sense of pardon. This, as we have seen, is 
the theme of the apostle in the epistle to the 
Romans; this is the justification which is by 
faith, without works. It is the justification of 
the "ungodly." It has been thought that 
the Apostle James, in his General Epistle, 
alleges that men are justified by works, in such 
way as to contradict our Article of Faith, and 
even to antagonize the doctrine of Paul. It 
is known that Luther was at one time in- 
clined to reject the Epistle of James, because 
it seemed to conflict with the teaching of Paul ; 
but, upon further study, he discovered that 
there was no want of harmony between these 
writers. There are passages in the Epistle to 
the Romans and in the Epistle of James, 
which, when placed together, appear at vari- 
ance, and need to be properly applied, in order 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 1 1 1 

that we may understand them and discover 
their true harmony. This, however, is all 
secured by considering that the two apostles 
were not speaking of justification in the same 
sense, or of the same justification. It is per- 
fectly plain that if they spoke of the same 
kind of justification, they disagreed in regard 
to it; for one affirmed that men are justified 
" without works," and the other affirmed as 
positively that men are ''justified by works." 
The only question is, Did they both speak of 
the same justification ? We have seen that 
Paul spoke of that justification which takes 
place when the sinner comes to God, and first 
seeks and finds acceptance. But James was 
speaking of another justification — of the third 
specified above, which is the justification of 
the righteous, in the sense of approval, by re- 
ceiving tokens of the divine favor. 

Let us confirm this statement by quoting 
the passage from James, which is supposed to 
contradict the Article of Religion, and the 
doctrine of Paul : " What doth it profit, my 
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, 
and have not works ? can faith save him ? If 
a brother or sister be naked, and destitute 



112 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

of daily food, and one of you say unto them, 
Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; 
notwithstanding ye give them not those things 
which are needful to the body, what doth it 
profit? Even so faith, if it have not works, 
is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, 
Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me 
thy faith without thy works, and I will show 
thee my faith by my works. Thou believest 
that there is one God; thou doest well: the 
devils also believe and tremble. But wilt 
thou know, O vain man, that faith with- 
out works is dead ? Was not Abraham, our 
father, justified by works when he had offered 
Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou 
how faith wrought with his works, and by 
works was faith made perfect? And the 
Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham 
believed God, and it was imputed unto him 
for righteousness ; and he was called the friend 
of God. Ye see then how that by works a 
man is justified, and not by faith only. Like- 
wise also was not Rahab the harlot justified 
by works, when she had received the messen- 
gers, and had sent them out another way? 
For as the body without the spirit is dead, 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 113 

so faith without works is dead also." In all 
this it is clear that the apostle was insisting 
upon the worthlessness of an inoperative or 
dead faith, and showing that the best proof 
of a living, justifying faith is found in the 
good works that it produces. He was showing 
those who had professed faith how to exhibit 
and demonstrate it, and also how to maintain 
it. He was addressing believers in regard to 
their duty after their first profession of justi- 
fying faith. This comes out in his allusion 
to the time when Abraham was justified by 
works. He was justified by faith when he 
believed God, and his faith was imputed 
unto him for righteousness. He then became 
the friend of God. That was before Isaac 
was born. It was when God made covenant 
with him, and promised him a seed as numer- 
ous as the stars of heaven ; it was even prior 
to the time when Abraham was ninety-nine 
years old, and God renewed the covenant, 
and gave the ordinance of circumcision, and 
made specific promise that Sarah should have 
a son. It is, therefore, plain that Abraham 
was justified by faith many years before the 

time he was justified by works. When was 

8 



114 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

this last justification? It was when Abraham 
"had offered Isaac his son upon the altar." 
When was that? We may not tell the num- 
ber of years that intervened between the 
time when Abraham believed God and it was 
counted unto him for righteousness, and the, 
time when he offered Isaac his son upon the 
altar; but it is quite safe to assume that more 
than a score elapsed after his first justifica- 
tion and before the event occurred to which 
James alludes. The first was before Isaac 
was born ; the second was when Isaac was 
somewhere from twenty to thirty years old. 
Sarah, his mother, was ninety years old when 
the angel assured Abraham that she should 
have a son ; and Isaac was born in about a 
year after that assurance. According to the 
record she died very soon after Isaac had been 
offered upon the altar; we can not tell how 
soon, but most probably within the year; 
and she was one hundred and twenty-seven 
years old when she died. With these facts 
before us, the conclusion is inevitable that 
James spoke of the justification of a right- 
eous man in the sense of approval; a man 
who had been previously justified by faith, 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. 1 1 5 

and whose faith was not dead, but active. 
Therefore he and Paul were not discussing 
the same kind of justification, and there is no 
conflict between them. Abraham was justi- 
fied by faith, and not only so, but by works 
also ; and it is right to insist with James that 
all who are justified by faith, as Paul taught, 
shall also make good their subsequent justifica- 
tion by works of obedience, love, and charity. 
The " works" which James insists upon as 
the fruit and proof of faith are not the ' ' works 
of the law" in the technical sense; but they 
are deeds of kindness and liberality. They 
are not what some have distinguished from 
the " deeds of the law," by calling them 
" Gospel works," such as repentance, confes- 
sion, prayer, baptism, searching the Scrip- 
tures, and attending upon the outward means 
of grace. These are all important in their 
places ; but they are not the works which ev- 
idence faith, and react upon it, so as to 
strengthen and confirm it. James points to 
the works to be insisted upon when he speaks 
of the brother or sister that is suffering for 
clothing and daily food. Active Christian 
beneficence clothes the naked, feeds the hun- 



Il6 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

gry, instructs the ignorant, lifts up the bowed 
down, and does good to the souls and bodies 
of men. Such works attest a lively faith, and 
bring down the testimonies of divine approval. 
The works demanded are such as tell upon 
the condition of society, as support the insti- 
tutions of Christian philanthropy, and sustain 
the agencies of evangelization — works that 
mean self-denial, consecration, love to God 
and man, and command the blessings of 
heaven and the approval of all the good. 



REGENERATION. 117 



Chapter VIII. 

REGENERATION. 

THE word regeneration occupies a much 
larger place in theology, relatively speak- 
ing, than it does in the New Testament. It 
has come to convey to most minds a very 
positive idea with reference to personal expe- 
rience, and is so used as to indicate, though 
somewhat vaguely, or at least in a very gen- 
eral way, the whole fact of deliverance from 
sin and acceptance in Christ. Its common 
use is sufficiently in accord with the Scriptures 
to avoid serious error, and yet it will be prof- 
itable to look more narrowly into its import, 
and ascertain from its use by the inspired 
writers its exact signification. 

But few use this word without implying a 
change in the heart and life, and the com- 
mencement of a new course of spiritual de- 
velopment, which looks to the entire renewal 
of the soul in righteousness. In this general 
signification of the word, as familiarly used 



Il8 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

among evangelical Christians, we find nothing 
calling for criticism, since nothing heretical or 
of evil tendency is involved ; and yet a care- 
ful study of its Scriptural use will reveal the 
fact that it has gained some important addi- 
tions to its primary meaning since the days 
of our Savior. Some of its incidents, its con- 
comitants and results have been incorporated 
into its radical meaning by popular usage and 
the popular apprehension. 

It occurs twice in the New Testament, and 
in neither instance does it necessarily convey 
the idea which the Church almost universally 
attaches to it. The first passage in which it 
is found, and the only one in which it is re- 
corded as falling from the lips of the Master, 
is Matt, xix, 28 : " And Jesus said unto them, 
Verily I say unto you, that ye which have 
followed me, in the regeneration, when the 
Son of man shall sit in the throne of his 
glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." The 
sense of this whole passage is confessedly ob- 
scure, and particularly with reference to the 
distinction assigned to the twelve apostles in 
their relation to the twelve tribes of Israel ; 



REGENERATION. 1 1 9 

but it is evident that the condition or experi- 
ence called "the regeneration" is connected 
with the coming of Christ in his glory, and 
does not relate to the experience in this life 
which we call regeneration. The radical idea 
of the word is reproduction. It carries this, 
meaning always, whether applied to material 
or spiritual things. In the passage before us 
it evidently relates to the reproduction or ren 
ovation of the material world, an event which 
is to follow the second coming of our Lord, 
and which marks the completion of his medi- 
atorial work, and introduces the final glorious 
dispensation, in which the redeemed shall 
reign with Christ and share his glory. It oc- 
curs when he that sitteth upon the throne 
shall say, "Behold, I make all things new." 
In the discourse which Peter delivered in Sol- 
omon's porch, after healing the lame man, 
allusion is made to the same consummation in 
the following words: "And he shall send 
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto 
you, whom the heaven must receive until the 
times of the restitution of all things, which 
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
prophets since the world began." (Acts iii, 



120 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

20, 21.) The ' ' restitution of all things " will 
include the ''regeneration" or reproduction 
of the world in which we now live ; and this 
synchronizes with the coming of the Son of 
man in glory, and also with the judgment of 
the great day, when the apostles are described 
as sharing in the glory of Christ, and sitting 
with him as associates in the work of judg- 
ment. 

The other passage in which " regeneration " 
occurs, is Titus iii, 5 : ' ' Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but ac- 
cording to his mercy he saved us, by the 
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly 
through Jesus Christ our Savior." Here the 
work of regeneration, as embraced in the 
popular conception, and expressed by the com- 
mon use of this word is expressed by the 
phrase " renewing of the Holy Ghost;" and 
this phrase is subjoined to the "washing of 
regeneration," to indicate its spiritual import, 
and to emphasize that which is most import- 
ant in the transaction. The "washing" or 
laver of regeneration is the outward act, the 
religious use of water in baptism, by which 



REGENERATION. 121 

the real renewing by the Holy Ghost is em- 
blematically set forth ; and as this use of water 
symbolizes the work of the Spirit, the phrase 
''which he shed on us abundantly " relates 
both to the descent of the water in baptism 
and to the descent of the Holy Ghost in its 
renewing and life-giving power. Both were 
"shed on us;" both fell upon the subjects of 
salvation, as rain falls upon the earth. The 
outward and the inward washing and renewal 
are joined together, because the one is the 
ordained symbol of the other, and in this rep- 
resentation of the divine order the apostle as- 
sumed that the outward was not an empty 
and meaningless ceremony, but a true bap- 
tism, marking and signifying an inward work 
of grace, the "renewing of the Holy Ghost, " 
which is the real regeneration. The word re- 
generation holds its radical meaning. It is a 
reproduction of divine life in the soul. The 
outward act of baptism, though emblematic, 
pledged the recipient to a new life of faith 
and obedience ; and, therefore, the whole 
transaction formed an era, a new departure, 
wherein the old life of sin was renounced and 
the new life of holiness was begun ; and the 



122 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

inward principle of the new life was from the 
Holy Ghost. Thus we are brought, in the 
study of this word, to recognize the true spir- 
itual regeneration, which has become the most 
prominent thought in connection with the 
term, and we see how nearly justified is this 
popular usage and sentiment. 

There is another word in the original which 
is nearly allied to the one rendered " regen- 
eration" in the above passages, and which, 
coming from the same root, may be regarded 
as its equivalent. It is found in I Peter i, 3, 
in the phrase " hath begotten us again," and 
signifies the production of a new element of 
life, which life is the inward basis of our hope 
of a blessed immortality. So nearly is this 
word like the other that no violence would be 
done to the meaning of the apostle if we should 
read the passage, "hath regenerated us unto a 
lively hope." The allusion is to the original 
production of life in the soul, which act needs 
to be repeated by reason of the forfeiture and 
destitution of life caused by sin. It is a sec- 
ond touching or inspiration of the soul by the 
life-giving energy of God. It is a quickening, 
a regeneration, a passing from death unto life. 



REGENERATION. 1 23 

Expressed actively, so as to represent the 
agency that is efficient in this work, this is 
God's own act. In the twenty-third verse 
of this same chapter this word occurs again, 
and is rendered "being born again," relating, 
as it always does, in the passive voice, to the 
reception of the living principle imparted by 
the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality 
of the Gospel. It expresses the effect wrought 
in the soul by the reproduction of life, and 
gives the precise idea of regeneration as an 
experience. This word, properly rendered 
4 'born again," has the same force as that 
used by our Lord in his conversation with 
Nicodemus, where he employs the term which 
means "born" literally, with the adverb at- 
tached which means "again," thus expressing 
the idea of a repeated or second birth. Wher- 
ever either of these words occurs with refer- 
ence to spiritual things, there is always a met- 
aphor in the mind, the basis of which is the 
analogy between the literal birth and the spir- 
itual result contemplated ; and the ruling point 
in the analogy is determinative of the meaning 
of the metaphor. In this instance the ruling 
point in the analogy is suggested by the rad* 



124 • CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ical idea contained in the word "born." It 
means beginning to live. It always points to 
the life element, and has no place where there 
is no life. There is, therefore, no regenera- 
tion without the production of a new life ; 
and the only subject of regenerating grace is 
a soul devoid of life — dead in sin, and so sep- 
arated from God as to be incapable of union 
with him without his quickening power. Upon 
such a soul the Spirit breathes, and the power 
of death is broken. The new animating prin- 
ciple, directly from God, takes possession, and 
the soul is lifted at once out of the death of 
sin into the life of righteousness. It is born — 
born of the Spirit — born in the moment that 
the new life banishes its deadness and revivifies 
its energies. In that moment it begins to live. 
This inward change, considered as the ex- 
perience of the soul receiving the new life, is 
expressed passively as the new birth ; and, 
considered as the work wrought within by 
divine agency, it is expressed actively as a 
regeneration. In either case the efficient agent 
is the Holy Spirit ; and it is remarkable with 
what precision the inspired writers select terms 
to make known at once the nature of the 



REGENERATION. 125 

work, the energy by which it is effected, and 
its thoroughness as the work of God. It is a 
" regeneration," a "renewal," a " transforma- 
tion," a i( creation," a ' ' resurrection, " or a 
passing "from death unto life." 

A thorough discussion of the nature of 
regeneration would require a psychological 
study of the operations of sin and of grace 
in all their manifold movements in the subju- 
gation and corruption of the soul, and in the 
liberation of its faculties, the restoration of 
its forfeited life, and even a careful exam- 
ination of the essence of the soul itself. A 
purely scientific treatment of the subject would 
lead to a line of thought covering these 
points; but ours is a Scriptural and experi- 
mental study, and the interpretation of the 
inspired Word is our aim, rather than a com- 
prehension of the underlying philosophy of 
the doctrine set forth. Yet there is a psycho- 
logical view of the subject which we can not 
afford to disregard. The Scriptures indicate 
that all the powers of our being — body, soul, 
and spirit — have been affected by sin, and must 
also be sharers in the salvation the Gospel 
brings. 



126 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

Leaving, for the time being, the body out 
of the inquiry, we must look at the terms 
"soul" and "spirit, " and ,learn, if possible, 
how to distinguish them, and ascertain the 
effect of sin upon each, so as to gather the 
true position and relation of one and the 
other in the process of salvation from sin, 
which we now call regeneration. Without 
giving reasons for rejecting the common dis- 
tinction or difference between "soul" and 
"spirit," which makes the "soul" represent 
the animal sensations and affections, while the 
"spirit" is the substratum or essence of the 
immaterial or immortal part of our nature, we 
shall give a different statement and a more 
accurate and Scriptural representation of the 
import of these terms. 

We assume the unity of our spiritual 
nature. By this we mean the oneness of 
our essential selfhood. That isolated individ- 
uality which each man recognizes as himself, 
the ego in which consciousness inheres, which 
is the real being, is not the aggregation of 
distinct substances or entities, but is in itself 
a complete, uncompounded, simple essence or 
substance. Its numerous faculties have no 



REGENERATION. 1 27 

separate existence, no varied nature, no prop- 
erties or qualities not common to the indi- 
visible essence. We recognize in it memory, 
will, understanding, imagination, and speak 
of each as if it were separate, having a nature 
and essence and being of its own, and yet all 
these are one in essence, and one essence, 
not parts of an essence or entity. It is the 
person, the ego, the essence invested with 
consciousness, that remembers, wills, under- 
stands, imagines. We call this entity the 
soul, and then it is the soul that remembers 
and wills and imagines. It is the soul acting 
in different directions, or exercising its differ 
ent powers. Thus all the natural faculties, 
attributes, or powers of the soul, have a com- 
mon nature, essence, and being. 

Now it is possible for us, in the exercise 
of the imagination, to conceive of the soul or 
personality as existing, with all its natural 
attributes of memory, will, understanding, 
and imagination, and yet as destitute of any 
moral character or spiritual affinity or inclina- 
tion whatsoever. The soul does not so exist 
in fact, but we can conceive of such an exist- 
ence ; and when we so conceive, by abstract- 



128 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ing or eliminating in our mind every thing 
from the soul that gives it character, leaving it 
possessed only of its natural attributes, we leave 
it in possession of all that the word "soul" 
expresses, when that word is used in connec- 
tion with the word "spirit/' so as to require 
a distinction in thought between soul and 
spirit. But since the soul does not exist 
without something to give it character, we 
must recognize as belonging to it a different 
set of powers or attributes, distinct, and 
yet not separate, in quality and manifestation. 
These additional attributes are moral, and 
determine character, because they give the 
bent or inclination to all the powers of the 
soul, and determine the life and conduct of 
the person with reference to goodness and 
badness. They are qualities in the natural 
faculties, giving them tone, inclination, im- 
pulse, and affinity. They are to the soul 
what temper is to the steel, or fragrance to 
the flower, or heat to the sunlight. We 
describe them as passions, impulses, desires, 
affections. They are not the soul, but its 
vesture, its tone, its character. Any change 
in them is a change in the soul, for they are 



REGENERATION. \2g 

the soul's properties. As distinct from the 
soul, they are the "spirit." 

Do the Scriptures sustain this distinction? 
When the word "soul" occurs in the Bible 
without the word "spirit," or any other term 
joined with it requiring a limitation of its 
meaning to its exact import, it expresses all 
that belongs to our spiritual nature, including 
the natural attributes and the moral qualities 
and dispositions. So also, when the word 
"spirit" occurs alone, or unconnected with 
soul, or any other word that suggests or re- 
quires its limitation to its more specific mean- 
ing, it expresses all that is included in soul 
and spirit both. It then denotes all our na- 
ture that is not material, expressed by the 
word body. Thus soul and body express the 
whole man, and body and spirit do the same 
thing. But when the two words soul and 
spirit are joined together in the same sentence, 
each has its own meaning, and must be re- 
stricted to its specific import. Then the "soul " 
means the conscious self, the substratum of 
being, including the natural attributes; and 
the "spirit" means the tone or disposition of 
the soul, with its leanings, aversions, and affin- 

9 



13a CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ities, with reference to the eternal law of 
righteousness. 

The use of the words "mind" and "heart" 
will illustrate the point in hand, and shed 
light on the whole subject. , These are often 
joined together, as are soul and spirit. The 
word "mind," when used alone, very often rep- 
resents not merely the intellectual powers, but 
the entire immaterial part of our nature ; and 
the word " heart " sometimes does the same, 
though it relates more directly to the moral 
and passional elements within us. But when 
they are united, or used in the same sentence, 
so that each must have its specific application, 
the word "mind" stands for the intellectual 
faculties, much as does the word soul ; and 
then the word "heart" represents the emo- 
tions and affections, as does the word "spirit." 
Morally speaking, as is the heart, so is the 
man. The heart indicates character. If it be 
right, and pure, and good, the man is just 
and true. His judgment, and will, and affec- 
tions respond to his emotional and affectional 
nature, and his life flows in the channel of 
love, and answers to the calls of duty. Hence 
we read of a good heart and a wicked heart, 



REGENERATION. 131 

of a hard heart and a tender heart. In the 
same way we speak of a right spirit and of 
a wrong spirit, of a good spirit and a bad 
spirit. These terms which denote moral qual- 
ities, and represent character, are applied 
properly to the ''heart " and the ' 'spirit," but 
only by way of accommodation to the mind 
and soul. The character of the soul is in the 
spirit, as the moral state or bent of the mind 
is in the heart. 

This view will enable us to understand cer- 
tain passages in the Old Testament, which 
convey the idea of regeneration without using 
the New Testament terms. Of this class is 
the prayer of the Psalmist, "Create in me a 
clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit 
within me." Thus also the exhortation of 
Ezekiel, " Cast away from you all your trans- 
gressions, whereby ye have transgressed ; and 
make you a new heart and a new spirit : for 
why will ye die, O house of Israel?" And 
likewise the promise of God through the same 
prophet : ' ( Then will I sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all your 
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse 
you. A new heart also will I give you, and 



132 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will 
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, 
and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I 
will put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
judgments and do them." In all these pas- 
sages the " heart" and the " spirit " appear 
as the subjects of washing, cleansing, renewal, 
and change. The soul, with its natural at- 
tributes, remains the same through all the 
experiences of sin and pardon, of pollution 
and washing, of death and of life, retaining its 
identity and its essential aptitudes and powers ; 
but the spirit, the seat and sphere of depravity, 
and of renewing and sanctifying influences, 
passes through these changes of character and 
condition, determining always the moral state 
of the man. A new soul is impossible, but 
a new heart and a new spirit are plainly 
promised, and graciously realized, 

The old heart or spirit, which is carnal, per- 
verse, and needs to be changed, is called in 
the epistles of Paul, the "old man," "the 
body of sin," "the body of the sins of the 
flesh." In regeneration this "old man" is 
crucified, put to death, and "put off;" and 



REGENERATION. 1 33 

the "new man," which is the new heart, the 
new spirit, is "put on;" and this change is 
expressed by the apostle when he says, ' ' And 
be renewed in the spirit of your mind." The 
transaction brings about so radical a change 
that the subject of it becomes a ' ' new creature. " 
Old things pass away and all things become 
new ; yet he is the same person, with the same 
consciousness, will, memory, imagination — the 
same soul, with its moral properties all 
changed. The change is in his heart. A new 
spirit is given. A new life animates the sou!, 
and gives new tone and direction to all its 
powers. New affections spring into activity, 
and new motives govern the life. This transi- 
tion is the "new birth." It is the beginning 
of a new life, the soul's emergence into a new 
world. 

Theories of regeneration are numerous, dif- 
fering mainly as they emphasize one or another 
of the features of this wonderful experience. 
The essential fact is the production of new 
life in the soul that was dead ; but this fact 
has its conditions, its implications, its mani- 
festations and results. It does not occur with- 
out the conviction of sin, the sense of con- 



134 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

demnation, and such a turning away from sin 
in godly sorrow as constitutes genuine repent- 
ance. It never occurs without the exercise 
of faith — the faith of the heart that apprehends 
Christ as the living Redeemer, the sufficient 
Savior, the only refuge of the sinner. It, 
therefore, always implies the occurrence of 
justification, which is the removal of guilt 
and condemnation by a gracious pardon of 
past sins. Justification changes the relation 
of the sinner to the divine law, and regenera- 
tion changes his inward nature so as to con- 
form it to the divine will. These blessings 
are concomitants. They come as gifts of the 
same fatherly love, through the same sacri- 
ficial death and mediatorial intercession, and 
in answer to the same faith. In the order of 
thought, justification is antecedent; in the 
order of time the distinction is inappreciable. 
The manifestation of regeneration is in its 
evidences. These are inward and outward. 
The inward evidences affect the consciousness. 
They come necessarily from the Holy Spirit, 
with immediate impressions and mediate dis- 
closures. Every soul has the ability largely 
to read itself, to apprehend as knowledge the 



REGENERATION. 135 

working of its own powers, and to compare 
and reason upon the facts of its interior life. 
God speaks to the soul by an inward voice, 
heard only in the silent chambers of the indi- 
vidual consciousness, and reveals himself by 
the filial spirit which he bestows. He also 
confirms this inward witness by the fruits of 
the Spirit in the heart and life. Hence, the 
outward evidences and the results of regener- 
ation are nearly allied. These are adoption 
and its proofs in all that makes up the life of 
faith and obedience. The new heart becomes 
the fountain of new and holy affections and 
emotions. It pours forth a copious stream 
of love, joy, peace, gentleness, and all the 
graces against which there is no law, refresh- 
ing and beautifying the life, and declaring the 
praises of God. The mind observes these 
fruits, and traces them to their source, and 
rationally infers the change wrought, aided 
therein by the memory of former states and 
of the old governing passions. 

This change is radical. It touches the 
foundations of character. The life it brings 
gives vitality to the sensibilities, quickens the 
emotions, and refines the very texture of the 



I36 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

soul. It turns the current of our affections 
from sin to holiness. It delivers us from the 
power of darkness, and translates us into the 
kingdom of God's dear Son. It plants within 
us the germ of the divine life, and readjusts 
and harmonizes our passions, and energizes 
the essential attributes of our being, so as to 
turn every faculty into the line of obedience, 
and to cast upon our whole pathway the bles- 
sed radiance of purity, and peace, and love. 
Regeneration is therefore the fundamental fact 
of life, because it breaks the reigning power 
of sin, makes us the children of God, and 
gives us power to walk in the light of holi- 
ness. 

There is a docrine of regeneration which fails 
to give such deep significance to this experience. 
It is represented as effecting a change in the 
tendencies, inclinations, activities, and strength 
of the faculties, without any change in the es- 
sence of the soul itself. This latter is supposed 
to be left for a subsequent work of sanctifica- 
tion. But this doctrine assumes what does not 
exist. There is no such distinction or difference 
between the essence of the soul and its faculties, 
as is implied. The soul and its faculties are one 



REGENERATION. 137 

essence. The moral faculties possess no ten- 
dencies, activities, or forces not found in the soul 
itself, as the soul is moved by the impulses 
and drawings of the spirit, which is its own 
essential character. In other words, as before 
stated, the faculties are not distinct entities. 
They have no essence or substratum apart 
from the soul ; and as the soul is a unit, or 
a simple spiritual essence, uncompounded 
and indivisible, it follows that its faculties are 
only modes of its own activities. Hence, if 
God give new energy to the faculties in re- 
generation, he gives it to the soul ; if he 
change the character and activity of the facul- 
ties, he changes the character and activity of 
the soul, and turns its powers into new methods 
of development, as well as into new forms of 
action in the presence of external motives. 
Whatever produces essential changes in the 
moral faculties touches the substratum of their 
being, the soul. The life that vivifies the 
faculties animates the underlying essence. It 
is not conceivable that the Holy Ghost should 
come with quickening power into the sphere 
of the sensibilities, and breathe a divine life 
into the faculties, and impart to them new 



138 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

vigor and tendencies, putting new tenderness 
into the conscience, and new fervor into the 
affections, and new energy into the will, with- 
out a direct and powerful renovation of the 
soul's essential moral qualities. Regeneration 
is, therefore, something more than a readjust- 
ment of the faculties, or a fixing up of their 
impaired forces. It is the act of God which 
gives new life to the soul, and creates in the 
deepest recess of the spiritual nature a new 
spring of holy impulses, and directs into new 
channels the whole current of the emotions, 
making the man a "new creature/' and his 
life an expression of the vitalizing energy of 
the indwelling Spirit. 

Yet regeneration is not the completion of 
the divine work in the soul. There is much 
beyond regeneration. Though complete in 
itself as regeneration, it is not complete in 
respect to the development of the character 
it creates. It is only the beginning of the 
new life. He who is "born of God" is yet 
a "babe in Christ." The elements of char- 
acter in his new life are germinal. His first 
need is spiritual nurture, including restraint, 
discipline, and sustenance, as well as instruc- 



REGENERATION. 1 39 

tion and guidance. He must have spiritual 
food, such as the sincere milk of the Word 
affords. So also must he practice self-denial. 
The old nature— the unrenewed spirit — which, 
before regeneration, bent the faculties of his 
soul to evil, has left its impress upon every 
power of his mind, so that the force of habit 
will revive, and the inclination to return to old 
ways will assert itself. The tinge of carnality 
lingers in the essence of the souL This re- 
maining power of evil habit must be conquered, 
and the dregs of depravity must be eradicated. 
Persistent self-denial, renewed consecration, 
and unceasing watchfulness, together with the 
continuous application of the atoning blood of 
Christ through an abiding faith, become at 
once both duty and privilege, and will bring 
all needed help, and purity, and triumph. 



140 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter IX. 

ADOPTION. 

THE result of regeneration is adoption into 
the family of God. "Adoption, in the 
theological sense, is that act of God's free 
grace by which, upon our being justified by 
faith in Christ, we are received into the family 
of God, and entitled to the inheritance in 
heaven. " 

As a matter of experience it is so identified 
with regeneration that we do not conceive of 
it separately, and can scarcely assign it a place 
as a distinct blessing in the process of con- 
scious salvation. Yet it is distinct in its rela- 
tions, and must have consideration in the list 
of concomitants of the justifying act. 

Among most of the ancient nations there 
were provisions made in law by which a per- 
son could be taken into a family to which 
he did not belong, and be clothed with all 
the rights of a child, and be constituted a legal 
heir, the same as a son born in the family. 



ADOPTION. 141 

The word adoption expresses this transaction, 
and, applied as it is to spiritual things, de- 
notes the act of God in receiving aliens and 
strangers, and conferring upon them the priv- 
ileges of heirship. The person adopted into 
another family under the law of the common- 
wealth, was legally and ceremonially born into 
the new life and relations he assumed ; and 
when the sinner is adopted as a child of God, 
he too is born again — born of God, and into 
the family of God. His relation to God is 
changed. It takes not merely new aspects, 
but it becomes thoroughly a new relation. 

There is no question in which we are more 
deeply interested than that which concerns our 
relation to God ; and yet there is no little 
vagueness in the ideas we cherish in this direc- 
tion. One thing, however, is clear. God is 
our creator. He gave us our being, and we 
depend upon him for daily life. In him we 
live, and move, and have our being. He is 
also our preserver and benefactor ; for all good 
things descend to us from him. All this is 
plain enough — but are we therefore his chil- 
dren? We dare not so affirm. Perhaps if 
sin had never separated between man and God, 



I42 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the fact that we are "his offspring/' in the 
sense of having our existence from him, would 
have been sufficient ground for the relation of 
children ; but now something different from 
this is needed. The Scriptures keep up a 
marked distinction between the relations of 
Creator and creature on the one hand, and 
Father and child on the other. In other 
words, the relation of children in the divine 
family is not predicated of the fact of creation, 
but always of redemption and adoption. If 
we are God's children by creation, where is 
the necessity for the new creation? If we are 
brought into the divine family by the natural 
birth, why do we need the Spiritual birth? 
If we are children and heirs of God by reason 
of our natural relation to Adam, what need 
have we of a spiritual relation to the second 
Adam, gained through regeneration ? What 
can be the force and meaning of adoption, if 
we are children and heirs without it? 

When Adam was first created in the image 
of God, he was placed in the relation of a son, 
and bore that relation as long as he retained 
his innocence and the divine likeness. Hence 
one of the evangelists, in his genealogical table, 



ADOPTION. 143 

says, " which was the son of Adam, which 
was the son of God." This natural relation 
of sonship was lost with the loss of the divine 
image, and was never transmitted by natural 
generation to any of his offspring, and can 
not now be pleaded as the ground of heir- 
ship. That God has fatherly dispositions 
towards the entire race can not admit of ques- 
tion ; and that he seeks the lost, and stands 
ready to receive the alienated, and confer 
upon them the forfeited relation and privileges, 
as the father of the repenting prodigal received 
the returning wanderer gladly, there can not 
be the slightest doubt ; but this restoring act 
is indispensable. It is the adoption. Without 
it the relation of child is impossible. 

The claim sometimes set up that ungodly 
men are God's children because they are his 
creatures is utterly fallacious. It overlooks 
the nature of the relationship as well as its 
foundation. To be a child of God is to par- 
take of the life of God. It is to possess the 
moral qualities which spring from his nature, 
and which affiliate the recipient to him in 
spiritual fellowship. Hence, to the alienated 
there must be reconciliation, and to the spir- 



144 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

itually dead there must be the impartation of 
new life. The fallacy of the claim that unre- 
generate men are the children of God by 
creation is seen in the Savior's language to 
unbelievers in his day. God made of one blood 
all nations of men to dwell on all the face of 
the earth, yet to some Christ said, "Ye are 
of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your 
father ye will do. " They were God's creatures, 
but the devil's children. To the same class 
he said, " Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 
how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?" 
God made them, but they were not his chil- 
dren. They were spiritually affiliated to the 
wicked one. The same fact is taught in the 
parable of the tares in the field. "The field 
is the world ; the good seed are the children 
of the kingdom, but the tares are the children 
of the wicked one." There is nothing more 
clearly taught in the Scriptures than that the 
wicked are the children of the devil, not of 
God. God made them, it is true, but he also 
made the beasts, birds, and fishes. These are 
all his creatures, but not his children. 

The fatherhood of God is a most precious 
fact when rightly understood and applied, but 



ADOPTION. 145 

it has been greatly distorted in the popular 
conception. God is the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, in a peculiar sense. He is the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth. The only true revelation of the divine 
fatherhood is in him and through him. He is 
the firstborn of the family of God, and in him 
is laid the foundation for the relation of chil- 
dren, which relation requires vital union with 
him, and participation in his life and Spirit. 
Let this point be clearly apprehended. The 
incarnation of the Son of God is the only basis 
of our sonship. We become children of God 
only as we are united to Christ. He came 
into the world not only to declare the father- 
hood of God, to reveal God as Father, but to 
lay the foundation on which our filial relation 
might be builded. Hence the language of 
Paul, "God sent forth his Son, made of a 
woman, made under the law, to redeem them 
that were under the law, that we might receive 
the adoption of sons." Adoption is thus 
founded in redemption, not in creation, as it 
is never predicated of creation in all the Bible. 
Christ is divine and human, and his complex 

nature bridges the chasm between the creature 

10 



I46 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

and the Creator, making adoption and sonship 
possible. The mysterious connection of the 
believer with Christ is vital — it is the source 
of life, of purity, of sonship and heirship. 
On it depends all that is meant by adoption, 
and all that can be meant to us by the father- 
hood of God. God is our Father in Christ, 
and he is the Father of all that sustain the 
vital union with Christ. Our heirship is a 
joint-heirship with the only begotten Son of 
God. He that hath the Son hath life, and he 
that hath not the Son of God hath not life — 
shall not see life — but the wrath of God abideth 
on him. 

The language of the following Scripture is 
perhaps as clear and comprehensive as any 
that has been given by inspiration: "He came 
unto "his own, and his own received him not. 
But as many as received him to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to 
them that believe on his name, which were 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
1 'To become sons of God !" Then they wer& 
not such before. They were creatures, but 
not children. By receiving Christ, they receive 



ADOPTION. 147 

power — liberty, ability — to become what they 
are not by nature, and can not be without 
Christ, and the new birth into the family of 
God, which is founded in Christ and built up 
in him. They become sons of God by being 
born of God. This is the adoption. It is not 
a mere ceremonial adoption, but one that is 
real — one that brings a new life and a new 
nature, as well as a new relation. The nega- 
tive side of this statement is very explicit, 
and full of meaning. They become sons by 
the new birth, which is " not of blood." It 
does not in any wise depend on blood, lineage, 
or descent. It is not a national privilege, 
blessing, or ceremony. "Not of blood." 
"Nor of the will of the flesh." It might in 
that case be a purely natural or human work. 
The will of the flesh is the human will in the 
carnal state, governed by the motions of the 
flesh. There is much power in the fleshly 
will, but none that can produce the new birth 
or bring the new life. "Nor of the will of 
man." This is the noblest power of the soul, 
the free, unconstrained, volitional power — the 
ground and measure of personal responsibility. 
It is indeed invincible in its sphere. But it is 



I48 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

powerless to bring the new life. It is not the 
source nor the agency of the new birth. Then 
this brings us back to the great thought — that 
we become sons of God by being born of 
God. We are not sons by creation, but by 
the "new creation." We become sons not 
by the natural birth, but by the Spiritual birth ; 
not by generation, but by regeneration; not 
by being born, but by being born again — 
"born from above" — "born of the Spirit" — 
"born of God." This is the adoption. It has 
redemption beneath it, and divine life in it. 

This subject has important bearings on 
questions connected with "Liberal Chris- 
tianity." "The fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man " is a form of words pos- 
sessing peculiar attractions for those who deny 
the essential corruption of human nature and 
the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, and who scoff 
at a future judgment and eternal retributions 
as exploded superstitions. The jingle of the 
words seems to them like music from the eter- 
nal harmonies. But the fatherhood of God is 
an evangelical doctrine in the purest sense. 
God is the Father of all who are vitally united 
to his only begotten Son ; and to others the 



ADOPTION. 149 

language has no application. The interest 
" Liberalists " find in it is all in its false inter- 
pretation. They assume that God is the 
Father of all men because he is their Creator. 
They find neither room nor need for "adop- 
tion " in their system ; and their notion of the 
"brotherhood of men" is as loose and un- 
meaning. Their conception of the human 
brotherhood rests upon the assumption that 
all men have one Father who created them. 
This, again, has truth in it, but is false in ap- 
plication and conclusion. God made all men, 
and all beasts and birds ; but this is not the 
ground of the brotherhood in question. Men 
are not brothers simply because one God cre- 
ated them, but because "he made them of 
one blood." They all descend from Adam, 
and are brothers in Adam, which is a broth- 
erhood in sin and death — a relation that brings 
no spiritual advantages with it. What is 
needed is a brotherhood in Christ. God's 
family is made up of a spiritual seed, born 
not after the flesh merely, but of the Spirit ; 
it is a family whose headship is not in Adam, 
but in Christ. This false view of the "fath- 
erhood" and ot the " brotherhood " has gone 



150 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

out beyond its origin and proper home in 
''liberalism," so called, and is found figuring 
in general literature and in political ethics, 
and occasionally cropping out in the sermons 
and lectures of evangelical divines. Its ten- 
dency is evil, and only evil. It strikes at the 
foundation of the Gospel by building up a 
false notion of the divine family, and remov- 
ing the necessity of the new birth. It says 
to all men, of all classes and all spiritual states, 
" Ye are all the children of God by creation." 
But the inspired apostle says, ' ' Ye are all the 
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." It 
says, " Ye are by nature the children of God;" 
but the apostle says, ' ' Ye are by nature the 
children of wrath." In a word, it promises to 
men, through their natural relation to Adam, 
all that the Scriptures promise through regen- 
eration and adoption. It takes away the 
meaning and the power of the Savior's most 

emphatic declaration, li Except a man be born 
again [or from above] he can not see the 

kingdom of God." 

After this brief digression, let us consider 
the benefits of adoption. By it we become 
children of God. This brings us directly 



ADOPTION. 1 5 I 

under the paternal government, which is in 
itself an unspeakable privilege. All men are, 
under God's moral government, held by the 
strong arm of power to ultimate accountabil- 
ity, to be dealt with according to unbending 
righteousness in the adjustment of rewards 
and punishments to individual deserts ; but, 
beyond this, and in modification of it under 
the economy of grace, there is a peculiar dis- 
pensation for the children of God — a family 
government, whose aim is the correction and 
spiritual discipline necessary to the growth 
and perfection of those who are the heirs of 
salvation. That such a paternal government 
exists is plainly taught in the Scriptures. The 
mistake in regard to it is the habit of " liber- 
alists" of applying its gracious principles to 
the moral government of God over the rebell- 
ious, and claiming for all men, upon the 
ground of natural relationship, the rights, im- 
munities, .and spiritual advantages which be- 
long to the children in the household of faith. 
It is thus assumed that God's government is 
all paternal ; that he deals with all sinners as 
a loving father deals with his erring children ; 
that he punishes them only for correction ; 



152 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

and that he never can disown them as chil- 
dren or disinherit them. 

This mistake we hesitate not to pronounce 
one of the most stupendous and ruinous that 
has ever been made in the interpretation of 
God's administration over men. It is sheer 
assumption, and nothing else ; yet its influ- 
ence in misleading men is incalculable. There 
is scarcely an ungodly person in any Christian 
country who does not resort to it for self- 
encouragement, when, pressed by the con- 
sciousness of sinfulness, he finds it desirable 
to allay guilty fears and gloomy forebodings. 
When, in spite of self, his thoughts run to 
the future, and the inward voice whispers, 
"For all these things God will bring thee 
into judgment," he reasons: "God made me; 
he gave me my passions, my ambitions, my 
tempers ; he knows my weaknesses : and if 
this is wrong, why am I made thus? More- 
over, he is a Father ; he gave me my being ; 
he loves his children ; he will not cast me off 
forever. He punishes me only for my good, to 
bring me to repentance ; and surely I intend 
to repent, and, therefore, there can be no 
great danger in this indulgence. Although a 



ADOPTION. 153 

prodigal, I am still his child. Now, if the 
relations to God of creature and child are the 
same ; if the fatherhood of God rests on cre- 
ation, and not on redemption ; if membership 
in the divine family is through the natural and 
not through the Spiritual birth ; and if the 
paternal government extends to all the race, 
and is God's only government over the world 
of the ungodly, — then this carnal reasoning is 
not only safe, but sound and truly rational. 
But it there be truth in God's Word ; if there 
was any occasion for the redeeming work 
whicft the Messiah undertook, and any neces 
sity for the Spiritual birth of the soul unto 
newness of life in Christ, — then all this lean- 
ing upon the paternal government by unre- 
generate sinners is an infatuation as cruel as 
it is deceptive. It is the masterpiece of Satan. 
The truth respecting the paternal govern- 
ment under which we come by adoption is 
found in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews. The 
language is addressed to (< holy brethren, par- 
takers of the heavenly calling :" "And ye 
have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh 
unto you as unto children, My son, despise 
not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint 



154 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

when thou art rebuked of him ; for whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth 
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure 
chastening, God dealeth with you as with 
sons ; for what son is there whom the father 
chasteneth not? But if ye be without chas- 
tisement, whereof all are partakers, then are 
ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we 
have had fathers of our flesh which corrected 
us, and we gave them reverence : shall we not 
much rather be in subjection to the Father 
of spirits, and live ? For they verily for a few 
days chastened us after their own pleasure, bu* 
he for our profit, that we might be partakers 
of his holiness. Now no chastening for the 
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; 
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness unto them which are ex- 
ercised thereby." In this passage the apostle 
was instructing believers in relation to the fact 
and proofs of their sonship, and guarding 
them against the supposition that their suffer 
ings in this world proved the absence of the 
divine favor. In it, as all through the Scrip- 
tures, the contrast is sharp between those who 
are the children of God and those who are 



ADOPTION. 155 

not. If all are children, why this distinction ? 
If all are under the paternal government, and 
dealt with as sons, why this particular illustra- 
tion of family government for those who are 
received as sons? If there are none who are 
" bastards, and not sons," why this specifica- 
tion of such a class? Why are proofs needed 
of God's dealing with men "as with sons/' 
if there are none with whom he deals other- 
wise? 

God's government over his own family is 
truly paternal, and the chastisements which he 
inflicts upon his children are indeed corrective. 
He deals with them faithfully, lovingly, ten- 
derly. His administration of discipline is 
wholesome, and every affliction is sent in kind- 
ness, and should be gratefully received, as 
from a father's hand. "As a father pitieth 
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
fear him." It is, therefore, a high privilege 
to come under the paternal government— a 
privilege secured by the precious blood of 
Christ, and realized by faith in him. It is the 
result of adoption. The fallacy to be depre- 
cated is in claiming for "bastards," "aliens," 
"strangers," "foreigners," and "enemies," 



156 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the rights of children. God pities all these, 
and seeks their salvation. They are his crea- 
tures, capable of spiritual relationship in his 
family through regeneration ; but they are not 
children till "bora again.' ' They are under 
God's government, but not under that peculiar 
form of it which is paternal. God loves them 
with compassion, not with approval ; his heart 
yearns over them, but not with delight. 
Christ died for them ; but they are not re- 
deemed by power till they yield to his call. 
The Holy Spirit strives with them ; but the 
divine sternness against sin is not turned away 
till they repent. While out of Christ, unrec- 
onciled, unpardoned, and impenitent, they are 
under the law and under its curse, and he is 
no friend of sinners who deceives them with 
misinterpreted truth, which is the worst of 
falsehoods, into the belief that they are God's 
children without being "born of God." 

Adoption not only makes us children, but 
heirs of God. "If children, then heirs: heirs 
of God, and joint heirs with Christ." This 
heirship is not to limited blessings, not even 
to heaven ; but it includes all blessings, for it 
is a joint heirship with Christ. To be heirs 



ADOPTION. 157 

of God is to receive the pledge of all the full- 
ness of God's love and all the resources of the 
divine nature and possessions, in order to our 
happiness. There is nothing that is really 
good or desirable that is not included in this 
heirship. It means all needed guidance, pro- 
tection, nourishment, strength, instruction, and 
help in this life, and all the blessedness of im- 
mortality in the world to come. It means, 
also, the Spirit of adoption, or the divine tes- 
timony to this heirship, which will form the 
subject of another chapter. 

In the foregoing we see the value of accu- 
racy in the statement of religious doctrines, 
and a verification of the saying that the most 
dangerous error is that which appears most 
like the truth, just as the most dangerous 
counterfeits are those which most nearly re- 
semble the genuine. The fatherhood of God, 
when rightly applied, and the paternal gov- 
ernment, are the genuine gold of the king- 
dom. But the assumption that all the race 
are God's children and under the paternal 
government is the base coin of the prince of 
darkness. This spurious issue wears the color 
and gives forth the ring of the precious metal, 



158 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

but in quality and weight is sadly deficient. 
In othet words, the "liberalise interpretation 
of the fatherhood of God puts on the garb 
and adopts the language of the truth, and so 
closely blends itself with wholesome doctrines 
that its terribleness evades detection by the 
busy multitudes ; but the devil transformed 
into an angel of light can not keep up the 
deception forever. God's truth shines through 
all masks, and searches out the stealthiest 
steps of error; and in its steady light the 
thoughts of the heart are revealed, and the 
secret things of darkness brought to the light 
of day. "The entrance of thy word giveth 
light." Here is our only safety, and here we 
learn that God's paternal government em- 
braces all the household of faith, and includes 
in its benign operations all the subjects of the 
spiritual kingdom. On this ground the Church 
of God is immovably fixed. Infidels may 
scoff and free religionists may sneer, and "lib- 
eral Christians," with spite intensified by 
proximity to the truth, may continue their 
denunciations of bigotry and "effete ortho- 
doxy," but here stands our faith upon the 
Rock of everlasting truth. 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 1 59 



Chapter X. 

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

NEXT to the fact of adoption, in point of 
interest to the believer, is the assurance 
given in the divine Word that it is possible to 
receive from God a direct testimony to his ac- 
ceptance as a child ; and this is scarcely infe- 
rior as a privilege to the adoption itself in its 
tendency to bring comfort to the soul and 
strength to battle against unbelief. Indeed, 
adoption would lose much of its powe*r as a 
doctrine if its consummation as an experience 
were left to doubtful conjecture. The relation 
we sustain to God is something we need to 
know, and the consciousness of need in this 
respect creates the presumption that provision 
is made to meet it somewhere in the economy 
of grace, since every real want is anticipated 
in God's wonderful scheme of saving mercy. 
This provision is found in the office and work 
of the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit works within, finding its sphere 



160 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

in the heart, the seat of the sensibilities, the 
emotions, and the passions. Christ died for 
us, and rose again, redeeming us from the 
curse of the law, being made a curse for us; 
but the Spirit did not redeem us, and does 
not perform any priestly function in our be- 
half. The work of the Spirit is thus distinct 
from that of the Son of God. The work of 
Christ relates to the law and to our condition 
under the law ; hence, nearly all the terms em- 
ployed to express his official work are forensic. 
But the Spirit's work is within us, and relates 
to our moral condition, our internal state, and 
has to do with our personal qualities as moral 
beings! It touches the elements of character, 
the springs of thought, the sources of sensi- 
bility, and the foundations of the will. There 
is nothing in us too deep or dark to be pene- 
trated by the Spirit, nothing so occult as to 
evade its presence or escape its scrutiny. It 
mingles with the first dawnings of intelligence, 
and moves onward with the flow of the pas- 
sions and emotions. As in the beginning it 
brooded over chaos, and brought light and 
order and harmony out of darkness and dis- 
order, so now it comes to the soul in its ruin, 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. i6l 

and begins and carries forward the work of 
the new creation. 

In some sense, the work of the Spirit was 
a necessity before the coming of Christ, and 
it was accomplished then as surely as now, 
up to the measure of what that dispensation 
required. It enlightened the understanding, 
quickened the energies, purified the affections, 
and renovated the powers which had been 
overborne by sin, then as now ; for this work 
is vital, as without it death reigns and spirit- 
ual life is impossible. The necessity of this 
lies in the corruption of nature by the first 
transgression, and is, therefore, as universal as 
the taint of depravity. All that is essential to 
the renewal of the soul must have been antic- 
ipated and made available from the beginning. 
The Spirit did "strive with man" before the 
flood. David prayed, "Take not thy Holy 
Spirit from me." It was given to the proph- 
ets in a special manner ; but it also wrought 
in the heart where the spirit of prophecy was 
not given. As there never was a time when 
men were not dependent on the Spirit, there 
never was a time when it was not present to 

do its essential work. As it is the only agency 

ii 



1 62 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

capable of renewing the soul, it has been 
available to this end ever since there was ne- 
cessity for the renewal. Yet it is written that 
while Christ was on earth " the Spirit was not 
yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." 
He also said himself, ' ' If I go not away, the 
Comforter will not come." There was, there- 
fore, to be a new dispensation of the Spirit — 
one of greater richness and power than had 
ever been enjoyed, and which would stand re- 
lated to the resurrection and ascension of 
Christ, so as to witness to the reality of his 
Messiahship and the efficiency of his media- 
tion. It was to supply the place of Christ's 
bodily presence with his disciples, and prove 
equally convincing, to all who received it, of 
his triumph over death and of their personal 
acceptance in him. The Spirit thus given, in 
a higher sense than ever before, was to be the 
Comforter, the guide, the constant helper and 
companion of the disciples, and in this full- 
ness of power and grace it was to abide with 
the Church forever. This rich effusion of the 
Spirit was to be a baptism, an endowment of 
power, a revelation of the Father and of the 
Son ; it was to come in answer to Christ's 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 163 

personal intercession, and constitute the high- 
est privilege of believers, and crown their ho- 
liest experiences. It was to be a witnessing 
Spirit, banishing darkness, delivering from 
doubt, and leading the believer into all truth. 
Herein we see the superiority of the dis- 
pensation which began with the celebrated 
Pentecost. Before that the Spirit quickened 
the soul and renewed it in righteousness, doing 
all that was essential to salvation; but since 
then the office of Comforter is fulfilled, and 
the gracious endowment of power is the ex- 
alted privilege of God's people. Now, unless 
our faith is imperfect or uninstructed, we no 
longer receive the Spirit of bondage unto fear, 
but we receive the Spirit of adoption, whereby 
we cry Abba, Father. This is the gift of the 
Holy Ghost, the promised baptism. It is 
given to believers because they are the sons 
of God, not to make them such. It attests 
their sonship after they are born of the Spirit. 
Thus the witness of the Spirit is distinct from 
the work of the Spirit in regeneration. It is 
something which is added to that work to 
make known in the heart the fact of its pres- 
ence and its genuineness. It is the approving 



\6\ CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

"seal" which God places on his own; the 
" earnest " he gives them pledging the fulfill- 
ment of his covenant stipulations; the blessing 
of Abraham realized by faith ; and so compre- 
hensive is this blessing that we hesitate not to 
speak of it as the highest privilege possible to 
the regenerated this side of the resurrection 
of the dead. 

The gift of the Holy Ghost, which the 
apostles experienced, was the objective point 
in all the instructions of the day of Pentecost. 
When, under the preaching of the Gospel, the 
multitudes were cut to the heart, and said, 
"Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" the 
answer given them was, "Repent, and be 
baptized, every one of you, in the name of 
Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and 
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 
This ^gift *' follows the "remission of sins," 
and attests the fact of adoption which attends 
regeneration ; but it never precedes pardon. 
The baptism enjoined — that is, the baptism by 
water — may either go before "the remission 
of sins" or follow after it, as there are exam- 
ples of baptism before and after the gift of the 
Spirit; and whenever baptism is administered 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 165 

to real penitents, as on the day of Pentecost, it 
is " for the remission of sins;" and such baptism 
is a means of pardon, so far as it helps to lead 
the inquirer to Christ in order that he may 
be justified by faith. But when baptism is 
not administered till after the gift of the Spirit, 
as in the house of Cornelius, and in the case 
of Saul in the house of Judas, then it is not 
"for the remission of sins," because, being 
after the gift of the Spirit, it is also after par- 
don. But the gift of the Spirit, symbolized in 
baptism, is not variable in its relation to for- 
giveness. The outward sign varies, but the 
inward grace never. The "gift" can never 
be obtained till after pardon. Yet some of 
the influences of the Spirit are found in the 
heart before pardon and before repentance. 
Its convincing and illuminating power precedes 
the first motions of the soul towards God, 
leading to repentance ; and its life-giving power 
accompanies the remission of sins, regenera- 
ting the soul; but that "gift" which is the 
"unction," the "witness," the "seal," the 
"earnest," is the heritage of justified believers 
only. It is the endowment of power which 
follows and bears witness to regeneration and 



1 66 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

adoption. The disciples had some faith in 
Christ before the day of Pentecost; and, no 
doubt, such faith as secured personal accept- 
ance, which included the remission of sins, 
and the renewal of their hearts by the Holy 
Spirit, bringing them up to the full measure 
of privilege under the former dispensation, 
and securing all that was essential to salvation 
at that time ; but they were yet without the 
"gift." What they lacked was not pardon, 
nor the new birth, but the seal of the Holy 
Spirit, the abiding presence of the Comforter, 
the Spirit of adoption. They were doubtless 
enjoying the blessings common to the old dis- 
pensation, with additional advantages from 
personal fellowship w T ith Christ, and needed 
only the effusion of Pentecost to advance them 
to the higher plane of spirituality which be- 
longs to the Gospel day. They had lived as 
minor heirs, under tutors and governors, dif- 
fering nothing in spiritual attainments from 
servants; but under this baptism they obtained 
the freedom of children, and went out from 
bondage with the mark of God's approval and 
the seal of his love upon them. 

Our Savior himself, with all his purity and 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 1 67 

perfection as a man, received the gift of the 
Holy Ghost. It came to him not in regener- 
ating power, nor for inward cleansing, but to 
abide with him ; it came to attest his purity, 
his Sonship, and the approval of his Father ; 
and thus it comes to all whose faith appre- 
hends him so clearly as to claim the Spirit of 
adoption. In addition to its inward working 
in the process of salvation, it comes to abide, 
and to bear witness with our spirits that we 
are the children of God. This abiding pres- 
ence of the Spirit as comforter, guide, and 
witness, is that which makes us one with the 
Lord, and may be accepted as the crowning 
glory of the Gospel dispensation. Under this 
gift every attainment promised may be realized, 
every victory over sin may be achieved, and 
every power of the soul brought into fellow- 
ship with God, while all spiritual graces are 
matured and ripened into Christian perfection. 
At this point the subject needs to be 
guarded. It is known that the disciples 
wrought miracles by the aid of the Holy Ghost 
before and after the day of Pentecost, and it has 
been claimed that the "gift" of which we have 
been speaking was the gift of miracles, and that 



l68 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

it was peculiar to the age of miracles, and was 
no proof of acceptance with God. Those who 
so teach hold that the Holy Spirit was given 
in its miracle-working power to men who were 
unregenerate and even wicked, and that the 
presence or absence of the "gift" has nothing 
to do with the gracious state of any one. 
This strange notion is necessary to certain doc- 
trines which have gained no little popularity, 
and it has been advanced, inconsiderately, no 
doubt, by some who have no dogma to sup- 
port that requires it. To our view it appears 
out of harmony with fact, inconsistent with 
reason and Scripture, and subversive of Chris- 
tian faith. 

It is true, however, that the miracle-work- 
ing power of the Spirit attended the ministry 
of the apostles, both before and after the 
memorable Pentecost. When they were sent 
out, two and two, into every place whither 
the Master himself would come, they received 
power to cure diseases, to cast out devils, and 
even to repel the influence of deadly poison 
from their own persons; this was the power of 
the Holy Spirit which was to accompany them. 
On the day of Pentecost, those who were 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 169 

" filled with the Holy Ghost," spoke with 
other tongues ' ' as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance. " Some received the gift of tongues, 
some the gift of healing, and others the gift 
of prophecy. How long these gifts remained 
with the Church is a question of history not 
easily determined ; and whether they might or 
might not have continued longer than they 
did, and whether they may or may not be re- 
stored to the Church, are questions not imme- 
diately within the range of our present inquiry. 
But we must look at the suggestion that these 
gifts were bestowed upon unpardoned sinners ; 
for we can not reconcile such an assumption 
with our understanding of the design of mira- 
cles. 

The reason usually assigned for believing 
that unpardoned persons received the Holy 
Ghost in its miracle-working power, is found 
in some Scriptural expressions, which we can 
not avoid believing are misunderstood and 
wrongly applied. The Savior spoke of some 
who will set up this claim in the day of judg- 
ment, but it should be observed that they 
utterly fail to have it acknowledged: "Many 
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have 



I70 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy 
name have cast out devils ? and in thy 
name done many wonderful works ? And then 
will I profess unto them, I never knew you : 
depart from me ye that work iniquity/' In 
this we have only the false assertion of hypo- 
critical pretenders, that they had wrought 
miracles in the name of Christ, while against 
it is the denial of our Savior himself, in 
the emphatic words, "I never knew you!" 
Another passage sometimes adduced as proof 
of this strange notion, is in Paul's discourse 
on charity or love, in the thirteenth chapter 
of First Corinthians: " Though I speak with 
the tongues of men and of angels, and have 
not charity, I am become as sounding brass 
or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the 
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, 
and all knowledge ; and though I have all faith, 
so that I could remove mountains, and have 
not charity, I am nothing." Here, in order 
to exalt our conception of charity, the apostle 
presents a hypothetical case. He does not 
affirm that any such case ever existed; nor 
does he imply that any person ever had, or 
ever could have, any one or all of these ex- 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 171 

cellent gifts, and yet be without charity. He 
simply supposes the case for the sake of the 
argument. In the entire discourse, there is not 
a syllable of proof that any miraculous gift was 
ever bestowed upon an unpardoned sinner. 

Quite preferable to this notion is the logic 
of the man who was born blind, whose eyes 
Jesus anointed with clay, and who, at the 
Master's bidding, went to the pool of Siloam 
and washed, and came seeing. When pressed 
with inquiries, and left by his parents to bear 
his cross-examination alone, and when derided 
for his adherence to his benefactor with the 
sneer, ' ' As for this fellow, we know not from 
whence he is, " he made the following masterly 
speech, which was never answered, and we 
venture to say never will be answered: "Why 
herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not 
from whence he is, and yet he hath opened 
mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth 
not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of 
God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 
Since the world began was it not heard that 
any man opened the eyes of one that was 
born blind. If this man were not of God he 
could do nothing." This argument needs no 



I72 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

amplification. Miracles are wrought only by 
men of God. And not less pertinent is the 
following: ''And John answered him, saying, 
Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy 
name and he followeth not us, and we forbade 
him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus 
said, Forbid him not; for there is no man 
which shall do a miracle in my name that can 
lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not 
against us is on our part." Miracles are the 
best proofs of the divine mission of prophets 
and apostles ; but if the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
in its miracle-working power, has been given 
to the unregenerate and unpardoned, then the 
very foundation of our faith is overturned; 
the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures 
by miracles is impossible ; and the distinction 
between the wonderful works of the men of 
God, and the lying juggleries of deceivers, in- 
stigated by Beelzebub, is broken down. We 
can not afford, as defenders of the good name 
of Christ's chosen servants, to admit that the 
miraculous gifts of the Spirit were ever given 
where they did not attest the acceptance of 
the person receiving them, and therefore we 
dare not believe that they ever went before 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 173 

pardon and regeneration. These gifts were 
special endowments, superadded to converting 
grace, and wherever they were found, there 
was proof of the divine favor and lovs. 

Then, we return to the fact that the Holy 
Ghost, given on the day of pentecost, bating 
the incidental miraculous powers attending it, 
was to be the heritage of the Church through- 
out the dispensation. This will appear by 
considering more fully the words of Peter to 
those who cried, "Men and brethren, what 
shall we do?" After the instruction to "re- 
pent and be baptized," and the declaration, 
"and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost," he added, "For the promise is unto 
you and your children, and to all that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God 
shall call." The "promise" is that made in 
the Abrahamic covenant, in the words, "And 
in- thy seed shall all the nations of the earth 
be blessed." That this promise of blessing 
includes the gift of the Spirit, as the perma- 
nent privilege of the Church under the Gos 
pel, is evident from Paul's application of this 
same "promise" in his Epistle to the Gala- 
tians: "Christ hath redeemed us from the 



174 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

curse of the law, being made a curse for us, 
that the blessing of Abraham might come on 
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ; that we 
might receive the promise of the Spirit through 
faith.' ' The il blessing of Abraham" is the 
blessing promised him and his seed, and 
through his seed to all nations; and to "re- 
ceive the promise of the Spirit" is to receive 
the Spirit which was promised ; and that Spirit 
is indeed the blessing of Abraham. It is the 
Spirit which is to abide with the Church, to 
witness the verity of Christ's teachings, to 
guide the disciples into all truth, and to be in 
their hearts the spirit of adoption, crying, 
Abba, Father. The great fact in this connec- 
tion is that the Spirit thus promised and given 
is not the Spirit in regeneration merely, nor 
the miraculous gifts which attended its mani- 
festation in the primitive Church, but the 
Spirit which follows adoption and witness to 
the fact, and makes known the Father and 
the Son. "And because ye are sons, God 
hath sent forth the Spirit of his son into your 
hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The presence 
of this Spirit in the soul, manifesting itself in 
the consciousness, is proof of the filial rela- 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 175 

tion, and may be accepted as the divine tes- 
timony to adoption, even if no voice is heard 
and no revelation of the process is made. 
The conscious presence of the Spirit is the 
voice of God, and that voice comes only to 
bear witness to our acceptance ; so that we 
need not wait for words or revelations before 
we can know that God owns us as his. ' ' Now 
we have received, not the spirit of the world, 
but the Spirit which is of God, that we might 
know the things that are freely given to us 
of God." 

Beyond all this is the question, " How 
does the Spirit bear witness with our spirits ?" 
This relates to the mode of the Spirit's work, 
and can never be answered. It is not for us 
to know how it is, and it is useless to form 
any conjectures concerning the mode of any 
movement of the Spirit within us. But the 
fact that the Spirit does bear witness with ouf 
spirits is not to be questioned on account of 
our necessary ignorance of its manner of doing 
the work. We treat the mysteries of the 
Spirit's methods just as we do any other mys- 
teries. We accept the fact on competent tes- 
timony, and leave the mystery of the mode 



176 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, 

where it belongs— outside the range of our 
thoughts. 

The fact is declared to us in the Word of 
God, and our faith rests in that testimony; so 
far as the common privilege of all believers is 
concerned ; and the fact as an item in our 
personal experience is attested by our per- 
sonal consciousness, by which we discern the 
Spirit's presence, and distinguish it from our 
own spirit and from every other spirit. It 
comes according to the divine Word, on the 
condition therein prescribed, and impresses 
our spirit so that we realize its presence, and 
so clearly apprehend it that its indwelling be- 
comes knowledge, acquired without the media 
of the senses, by direct impression on our in- 
ward sensibilities. We may not give the phi- 
losophy of this contact of Spirit with spirit, 
nor tell the reason why it is hidden from our 
bodily senses, but we can know the fact as 
surely as we know any thing that discloses 
itself within our consciousness. But this 
ought to be added: When the consciousness 
of the Holy Spirit's presence is found within 
we do not depend entirely upon an impression 
for our knowledge of the fact. The impres- 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 1 77 

sion is a factor, and one of great importance, 
but it is not the only one. The conditions 
under which the impression comes, its accord- 
ance with the promise, its relation to faith, 
and its tendency to lift the soul into holier 
exercises, are all to be considered ; and, then, 
the " fruit of the Spirit" comes in to corrob- 
orate the impression, and give unmistakable 
confirmation to the testimony which was pri- 
mary and direct. In this way the "witness 
of the Spirit" becomes a living truth, tested 
and verified, on which we can depend without 
fanaticism and without deception. 

Two mistakes are sometimes made in re- 
gard to this experience. Some find too much 
in it. They evidently accept as divine some 
things which originate in their own imagina- 
tions. They hear the voice of God in detail, 
or suppose they do. They claim to be taught 
by the Spirit to do and to say this and that 
in regard to daily living, in a way that indi- 
cates great familiarity with the Deity, and rep- 
resents him as making revelations to them 
about themselves and others, outside of the 
matter of their personal relation to the divine 
family. They also speak with authority from 

12 



178 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

their inward illumination in regard to doctrines 
connected with the various phases of expe- 
rience, so that the suggestion that they are 
possibly incorrect is taken as opposition to the 
Gospel itself. That this is an abuse needs 
scarcely be pointed out. The Spirit attests its 
own work and helps us to understand the Sa- 
cred Word ; but it does not teach us outside 
of the Scriptures, except as to our personal 
standing before the Lord. The other mistake 
is nearly allied to this one, although the effect 
is widely different. It arises from slowness to 
believe on sufficient testimony, as the one just 
considered comes from a readiness to believe 
on insufficient grounds. Some form such an 
idea of the Spirits voice within that they are 
unable to perceive its presence, because it 
does not come up to their expectation, or sat- 
isfy the tests which they voluntarily establish. 
They look for inward voices and words, saying 
of each blessing, ' ' This is justification/* * ' This 
is regeneration ;" and of each process, this, 
and that, and the other thing; so that they 
are never satisfied, and never find the real 
witness, which they might enjoy. The truth 
is, we ought not to expect the witness to 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 1 79 

come so that we can find it without searching. 
Self-examination is a duty, and it is by thor- 
oughly studying our hearts we are to " prove 
our own selves." This implies that a little 
time should be taken, and that Scriptural 
tests should be applied, so as to assure our- 
selves of the Spirit's presence ; and that then 
we should accept the evidence gratefully, not 
seeking for signs and wonders, and not fixing 
imaginary standards of our own devising. 
The first mistake leads to fanaticism, the sec- 
ond to doubtfulness and indecision. In many 
instances the second is caused by the boldness 
and indiscreet language of those who have 
fallen into the first error. The reaction from 
overdoing is disastrous. The effect upon some 
minds is open disgust and disbelief; and upon 
others, discouragement. 

The witness of the Spirit is sacred to the 
person who enjoys it. It is the most precious 
jewel of the heart. It is the "hidden treas- 
ure/* "the pearl of great price." It is the 
"secret of the Lord," committed to the be- 
liever in trust, not to be despised, nor to be 
treated as a common thing. It is, therefore, 
to be spoken of with carefulness in the pres- 



180 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ence of those who appreciate it, and not boast- 
ingly before the multitude. "He that be- 
lieveth on the Son of God hath the witness in 
himself. " It is given for his own comfort and 
confirmation in the faith. Let it be shown by 
its fruits. It is a light that will shine. Well 
for us if we learn to expect neither too much 
nor too little from this blessing ! Well if we 
endeavor to make neither too much nor too 
little out of it ! ' ' Now if any man have not 
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 1 8 I 



Chapter XL 

REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 

MUCH is to be learned by studying the 
words of the Bible. The sacred writers 
declared the Gospel in words, and in words 
which the Holy Ghost suggested or approved, 
and it is fair to assume that the words em- 
ployed by them should be taken in their most 
obvious sense, as determined by the scope and 
design of the writers. Sometimes when we 
consider the simplicity of the words of inspira- 
tion, and then remember how the Churches 
and the ministry have wandered from the orig- 
inal sense of those words, and how the simplest 
terms of the Bible have grown into mysterious 
technicalities, producing almost endless dis- 
putations, we are astonished that so much of 
the essence of Christianity has been preserved, 
and that the truth is still ours, substantially as 
it was first delivered to the Church. We 
ascribe this largely to the fact that the Word 
is written, and that it was originally written, 



182 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

in a tongue which soon after the writing ceased 
to be liable to the changes incident to a living 
language. This is the only solution of the 
problem, and indicates providential care in pro- 
viding the truth for us, and in securing the 
purity of the sacred record. 

Having in a previous chapter spoken of the 
Scriptural use of the word Regeneration, we 
now join to it another term, which has occa- 
sioned no little dispute and perplexity — the 
word Sanctification. These terms are properly 
associated, because they relate to the same 
general experience, expressing not the same 
thought, but each pointing to a distinct phase 
of the work of grace— a work which is essen- 
tially one, though embracing several particulars. 
Our purpose is to go back of all theories and 
theorizing in regard to these terms, and get 
at their import as used separately and to- 
gether in the Scriptures. Etymologically con- 
sidered, they have no necessary connection, 
but they are so intimately related in use that 
it is difficult to consider them separately. At 
least, while each expresses a distinct idea 
concerning salvation from sin and death, both 
are needed to describe the experience con- 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 183 

templated in its completenesss, although each 
is sometimes used so as to imply what the 
other means. 

These words are not synonymous. The 
ideas they contain are not the same, nor are 
they similar. But, as before said, they per- 
tain to a work of grace which, while it presents 
several aspects, is essentially one work, as it 
belongs to the same person, is all provided for 
in the same way and by the same sacrifice, 
and is experienced on the same condition, in 
response to the same faith, and substantially 
at the same time. This work as a whole is 
salvation ; but salvation is a generic word, 
which includes the process and results of de- 
liverance from sin, and being so comprehen- 
sive, if not complex, it can not be expressed 
by any specific term which has reference 
to its process, mode, agency, or any of its 
distinctive features or results. Salvation in- 
cludes pardon, regeneration, sanctification, 
adoption, and whatever is implied in either or 
all of these specific terms, and all these are 
necessary to give the full meaning of the 
word as it relates to personal experience. 
Pardon, however, has to do with the legal 



184 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

aspect of this work, and takes place in the 
mind of God, and is not, therefore, usually 
regarded as a constituent part of the inward 
experience, whose process and aspects we are 
seeking to understand. But regeneration and 
sanctification are wrought in the soul by the 
agency of the Holy Ghost, and are thus more 
intimately related to each other, and come 
more directly under the cognizance of the indi- 
vidual consciousness. 

As is more than implied in the foregoing, 
there are two leading aspects of the inward 
work of salvation, and both are indicated by 
the moral condition of the sinner. He is 
"dead," and he is spiritually "unclean." He 
must therefore be brought to "life," and he 
must be M washed." Here are two processes, 
distinct and unlike, yet equally necessary, 
and never to be separated in the work of sal- 
vation. The first is a "quickening," and 
necessarily belongs to the life element in sal- 
vation. This is regeneration. The other is a 
"washing," — a putting away of the "filthi- 
ness" or pollution of sin, — and this as dis- 
tinctly relates to the element of holiness or 
purity, and is properly known as sanctification. 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 185 

The first process, taken in its fullest scope, 
includes the necessary antecedent repentance, 
and all that looks toward the development of 
the new life, in its inception and progress, 
till the death of sin is removed, and the life 
of faith established. It does not, however, 
comprehend the other process, although it 
implies it. That takes place at the same 
time, and on the same terms, and includes 
personal consecration and the appropriation of 
the cleansing blood, and all that makes up 
the holiness element in salvation. Thus these 
two aspects are parts of a whole, each imply- 
ing, but not including, the other, and it is not 
strange that they have been at times con- 
founded, or that some difficulty has been ex- 
perienced in conceiving of them separately. 
As these two branches or aspects of expe- 
rience are so closely related, springing as they 
do from the moral necessities of the soul, all 
questions as to their correspondence and mu- 
tual dependence are answered sufficiently for 
practical purposes when we reach the true 
ideas of their intrinsic nature and co-existence. 
The regenerate soul is sanctified, and yet re- 
generation is not sanctification, and vice versa. 



1 86 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

And as one is not the other, so it is only by 
accommodation, in view of the implication of 
the presence of sanctification where regenera- 
tion is predicated, that we are taught in our 
theological standards to say that regeneration 
is sanctification begun. This language is the- 
ologically true ; for where one is, there is the 
other ; and sanctification is wider in its scope 
than regeneration. Their distinctness in na- 
ture is unquestionable, since one brings life, 
and the other purity ; but this neither sepa- 
rates them in relation to time, nor makes 
either independent of the other. Where re- 
generation is, sanctification is begun ; and, 
hence, when persons are said to be' sanctified, 
their regeneration is implied, just as justifica- 
tion implies regeneration and sanctification as 
concomitants. 

Attention to the foregoing statements will 
show why it is that " babes in Christ' ' are 
spoken of in the Epistles as being "sanctified 
in Christ. " They are not "babes" till they 
are " born of God ;" then, being "born of 
God," they are "new creatures," for they are 
"in Christ;" and, being "babes," " new crea- 
tures, "" born again, " they are justified, 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 1 87 

washed, ' ' sanctified" by the Spirit of God. But 
is the work of grace described by these terms 
so complete in "babes in Christ " that there 
is nothing more to be sought or expected? 
Not by any means. Regeneration produces 
the new life, but does not complete it. The 
life element is imparted ; but it is not devel- 
oped, and has not reached its perfect mani- 
festation. It is a germ which is to grow and 
expand, and ultimately bring forth the fruit 
of righteousness. Growth follows life ; but 
the growth is not in the process of regenera- 
tion. That process is complete when the life 
is imparted ; but the life itself is not complete 
in the sense of development or maturity, and 
the growth is of the life which regeneration 
produces. That "life" comes from God; it 
comes in the new birth, which is the begin- 
ning of life ; and all its subsequent develop- 
ments, under the quickening Spirit that gave 
it, must be in the line of its own functions 
and activities. It is the life of God in man, 
the vital principle that displaces spiritual death, 
and links the soul to God. This growth of 
life may be said to begin with regeneration ; 
but it is not included in regeneration, nor can 



188 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

it be limited to regeneration. So, also, is it 
with sanctification. It accompanies regenera- 
tion, but it does not stop with regeneration. 
It washes away the defilements of sin, and 
removes the obstructions to the expansion of 
the inward life, rendering growth possible. It 
is not growth ; but it is an accompaniment of 
growth, and an accessory to growth. Hence, 
in its fullest signification, sanctification relates 
to a process of cleansing which begins with 
regeneration, and goes on and on through all 
the experiences of growth, maturity, and per- 
fection. Thus it appears that regeneration 
and sanctification are branches of one experi- 
ence, constituents of one salvation, co-existing, 
working together, each in its own line, and re- 
vealing the extent and unity and symmetry of 
the work of grace, and destroying sin in all its 
phases and results. 

It is, therefore, proper to use the word 
sanctification as expressive of the state of 
grace attained at the time of regeneration, and 
to apply it to all who are truly born of God. 
This is in accordance with Scripture usage, 
and quite consistent with the facts of Chris- 
tian experience and with the doctrine of the 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 189 

Church concerning Christian perfection and 
entire sanctification. It is well known that 
our best writers on these subjects have always 
held that the word sanctification does not of 
itself express the idea of that thorough cleans- 
ing which is the privilege of believers, but 
that an auxiliary, such as " wholly' ' or "en- 
tire," must be employed to that end. The 
most thorough examination substantiates the 
correctness of this position, and proves the 
accuracy of Mr. Wesley and his coadjutors in 
the development of this theme. 

There is, however, one point that needs to 
be guarded. It is not uncommon with believ- 
ers, in relating their experience, to recur to 
the period of their conversion, and say at such 
a time, and under such and such circum- 
stances, " I was born of God," But it is not 
often that we hear them say, with reference to 
the same experience, that at such a time ' ' I 
was sanctified." Strictly speaking, the words 
being understood as above explained, this lat- 
ter statement would be as true as the other. 
And yet it is well that the habit has grown 
up in the Church of speaking of regeneration 
rather than sanctification as taking place at a 



I90 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

definite time in the past ; for regeneration & a 
definite experience, which has a definite period 
or date, and is to the believer, in the strictest 
sense, a past event. But sanctification is not 
so positively a past event. It is a continuous 
process. It began with regeneration, but it 
was not then completed. It is something that 
never becomes a past experience. In this re- 
spect it is like faith. By faith we are born 
of God: but the faith abides and supports the 
life which regeneration brings. So by faith 
the cleansing process goes on, washing away 
the defilements that otherwise would gather 
upon the soul, and purging the corruptions 
that survive the beginnings of the new life. 
The appropriate utterance of the soul after 
regeneration is: 

"Every moment, Lord, I need 
The merit of thy death. 1 ' 

There is no state attainable in this life 

when this language will not be in place. The 

utmost that can be gained — and it answers 

fully to this constant sense of need — is the 

privilege of responding in the fullest faith : 

" Every moment, Lord, I have 
The virtue of the grace." 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. I91 

This continuous appropriation of the merit 
of Christ's death is the sanctification which 
takes place first in regeneration, and contin- 
ues right along through all the processes of 
growth, development, maturity, and final tri- 
umph over sin and death, and ceases not so 
long as there is a lingering need in the soul. 
Of course, a work so continuous will of ne- 
cessity have its stages or degrees ; it will be 
modified by the moods and frames of the 
subject of it, by the activity and ardor and 
clearness of the faith he exercises, and by 
his sluggishness and falterings. The real point 
to be observed is, that sanctification is a work 
wrought by the Holy Spirit — a cleansing work, 
a washing — and that it is simply the appropri- 
ation of the merit of the atoning blood of 
Christ by a constant, living faith. This idea 
is brought out beautifully in a single stanza 
of one of our standard hymns : 

"My dying Savior, and my God, 
Fountain for guilt and sin, 
Sprinkle me ever with thy blood, 
And cleanse and keep me clean." 

The " guilt " is canceled in pardon; the 
death of sin is -removed, and its reigning 



I92 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

power broken, in regeneration ; and its stain 
and pollution are washed away in sanctifica- 
tion. But the purity which the washing brings 
will not remain, unless the atoning blood con- 
tinues to avail. Hence the prayer, " Sprinkle 
me ever" — every hour, every moment — "with 
thy blood." Hence, also, the contemplated re- 
sult of this continuous sprinkling, ' ' and cleanse 
and keep me clean." In the light of this 
manifest need of a continued cleansing and of 
the, ample provision for its realization, it is 
plainly unwise to speak of sanctification as a 
past experience. Some particular results of it 
are past, and the work itself, as connected with 
earlier experiences, may in fact be a past 
work; but as a work of grace having to do 
with our religious state, our advancement in 
the divine life, and our fitness for the kingdom 
of God, it should always be recognized as 
present and continuous. 

Let this point be clearly understood. Sanc- 
tification is neither identical with regeneration 
nor Christian perfection, while it accompanies 
both and has specific relation to each. It is 
concurrent with regeneration ; but, being a 
distinctive work, and not implanting any liv- 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. I93 

ing principle in the soul, as does regeneration, 
it is not restricted to the hour of the new 
birth, is not subject to the laws of growth, 
does not result from growth, and is not of the 
nature of the new birth or the growth which 
follows. It is the cleansing act, including the 
dedication of the soul as the temple of God, 
preparatory to the Spirit's occupancy as the 
Spirit of adoption ; and every subsequent act 
of purification by which hereditary or con- 
tracted stains are removed is an act of sancti- 
fication. It is a work to be repeated, and 
which is repeated again and again during pro- 
bational life, and as each succeeding sancti- 
fication brings the soul into nearer fellowship 
with the all-cleansing blood, the experience 
of sanctification is justly regarded as pro- 
gressive. Being continuous and uninterrupted, 
the words of the apostle are verified, "Who- 
soever is born of God doth not commit sin." 
Upheld by the Spirit of God, and aiming at 
uprightness, his mistakes and infirmities are 
forgiven, and the cleansing blood abides. 
Sanctification is complete when all the powers 
of the soul are purified and the heart is clean. 
This is the only standard known in the Scrip- 

13 



194 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

tures. In the primal act of sanctification, at 
the time of the new birth, the heart is washed 
from the defilements of old sins ; but neither 
Scripture nor experience will justify the asser- 
tion that all the impurities of thought and the 
evil tendencies of nature, which are impurities 
in God's sight, are entirely purged till the new 
life has expanded and the indwelling Spirit 
has revealed to the enlightened conscience the 
enormity ot inbred depravity. The filthiness 
of the flesh and spirit must be felt and loathed 
before it can be washed away. Hence, the 
general experience is that the full cleansing 
follows a season of deep self-abasement. The 
provision for this entire sanctification is ample, 
and the Spirit of God is always ready to re- 
spond to the longing desire, so that as soon 
as the soul feels its need of this great deliv- 
erance, and takes hold of the atonement as 
efficacious to this end, the merit of the cleans- 
ing blood is applied, and the Spirit reveals 
the result as suddenly or as gradually as faith 
will apprehend the evidence given. But the 
fact should not be overlooked that the work 
and the evidence of it are distinct. The work 
itself may be instantaneous, and the evidence 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 1 95 

gradually unfolded and received. The evi- 
dence of regeneration is the witness of the 
Spirit. This is the direct and all-commanding 
evidence. There are other incidental and con- 
firmatory evidences ; but this stands out in the 
Scriptures as most prominent and altogether 
the highest and best. It is the Spirit of 
adoption. The question arises, Does the Spirit 
bear direct witness to the work of sanctifica- 
tion, as well as regeneration ? The answer is, 
The Spirit declares the result, not the process. 
It attests our filial relation. " The Spirit itself 
beareth witness with our spirits that we are 
the children of God." " Because ye are sons, 
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into 
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." It is not 
necessary that the Spirit should catalogue ev- 
ery influence it exerts and every impression 
it makes, so as to detail to our consciousness 
all its movements and methods, in a way to 
enable us to label and name every distinct 
blessing received and mark all its relations 
and results. It does not deal with the inci- 
dents of the great transaction. But still it 
comes into the heart as a " Spirit of revela- 
tion," enlightening the understanding, assisting 



I96 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

our apprehension of truth, and so guiding our 
minds and showing us the things of Christ 
that we may ' ' know the things which we have 
of God." Under its gracious teachings much 
of the mystery of the divine procedure is made 
plain, and the blindness of our own hearts 
passes away as the clouds, while the Sun of 
righteousness pours refulgence upon the path- 
way of duty and privilege. There is such a 
thing as being " led by the Spirit. " But we 
must not expect new revelations, or truths not 
found in the Scriptures ; nor need we look for 
direct communications from heaven concern- 
ing the trivial things of life, or even with ref- 
erence to religious duty. It is enough that the 
Spirit assure us of our adoption, and clear our 
spiritual vision so that, in studying and weigh- 
ing the inspired Word, we may apprehend its 
spiritual import, and gather from it the entire 
will of God touching our obligations and 
calling. To go beyond this is to enter the 
borders of fanaticism. 

"The Spirit bears witness with our spirit. " 
and in receiving and interpreting its testimony 
it is of the first importance that we discern 
its voice, and distinguish it from all other 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 197 

voices, and from the utterances of our own 
spirit, and from the flashings of an excited 
fancy. Here is the point of danger. The 
dividing line between the real and the imag- 
inary is not easily traced. Ardent tempera- 
ments are particularly liable to pass over it. 
Self-examination is requisite. Scriptural tests 
must be employed. With these, delusions 
may be detected, and the "witness of the 
Spirit" may be found where its voice is both 
still and small, and where the emotions are 
not clamorous and the imagination is quiet 
and regulated. It is not strange that this in- 
ward voice should be heard only by silencing 
other voices; that this divine testimony should 
be found only by searching. God speaks, 
but in no audible tones ; he testifies, but not 
by signs and wonders. He comes into the 
sphere of our consciousness, and tells us of 
our acceptance, and diffuses his love, without 
disturbing the laws that rule the realm of our 
spiritual natures. His voice is spiritual and 
spiritually discerned. It speaks of our rela- 
tion as children. It reveals the love of the 
Father ; but it does not name every phase 
of the great salvation. The particulars are 



I98 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

all comprehended in the adoption. The divine 
life within proves the regeneration, and this 
implies the sanctification. With the fact of 
adoption attested, our rational inferences as to 
the processes and implications are both Scrip- 
tural and satisfactory. We need not worry 
because the Spirit does not particularize, and 
say to every believer, with reference to every 
detail of the work of grace, "This is regen- 
eration ;" "That is sanctification ;" "This is 
reconciliation ;" "That is adoption." Such is 
not the divine economy ; and by insisting that 
it is, some are betrayed into hurtful extrava- 
gances, and others are discouraged and fail to 
accept the testimony which God gives. The 
direct witness is to adoption, and upon this 
strong foundation our enlightened understand- 
ing will build the superstructure of assurances 
with reference to all the processes of the great 
work of deliverance from the guilt, the death, 
the power, and the pollution of sin. 

In each of these terms there is a metaphor, 
and the basis of the metaphor is the corre- 
spondence between the material and the spir- 
itual. The literal production cf life, the 
physical generation, is made to represent the 



REGENERATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 1 99 

production of spiritual life in the soul ; and 
the physical cleansing of the body represents 
the cleansing of the soul. The regeneration 
is the production of life, and the sanctification 
is the cleansing. This is natural, easily un- 
derstood, and beautifully impressive. Thus 
the more closely we examine the terms in 
which the Scriptures reveal the experiences 
resulting from faith in Christ the more we 
discover of the infinite wisdom of God dis- 
closed therein ; and by comparing these terms 
with each other, and tracing their use, and 
carrying them back to their primary import and 
metaphorical allusions, we gather an idea of 
the unity and simplicity and grandeur of Gos- 
pel salvation. The result is, that the evidence 
of personal salvation is proof of all its neces- 
sary processes and details. When the Spirit 
declares our sonship, we need not look up 
and ask whether God has washed our hearts. 
With the indubitable evidence of adoption 
within, we need not question the fact of re- 
generation ; and with the peace of God ruling 
in our hearts, there is no reason for stumbling 
because all the lines of distinction drawn in 
theology are not clearly traceable in our souls. 



200 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter XII. 

GROWTH IN GRACE. 

FROM what has been said of regeneration 
and sanctification as distinct features of a 
common experience, it is not to be inferred 
that, beyond the first realization of this salva- 
tion from sin, there is nothing more to be ex- 
pected. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to repeat 
this ; and yet it is safe to remind the reader 
that thus far we have only intended to repre- 
sent the work of grace as wrought in answer 
to the first enlightened exercise of saving 
faith — an experience which belongs to the 
time the sinner is delivered from the power 
of darkness, and translated into the kingdom 
of God's dear Son. There is much beyond 
this — much that is expressed by the word 
" growth," and much that is not. There is a 
sanctification which is beyond the primary 
sanctification experienced in connection with 
regeneration ; but since that is not a " growth' ' 
it will not be specifically treated in this 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 201 

chapter. We shall see more of that here- 
after ; but for the present we shall trace the 
growth in grace, which relates to the develop- 
ment of the life produced in regeneration, 
and is at once both duty and delight. 

Growth is always a process of life. What- 
ever the nature of the vital force may be, it 
manifests itself in growth ; and the phenomena 
of growth, however diversified, most rigidly 
adhere to the orderly unfolding of the vital 
power within the sphere of the organism, 
which is the subject of growth ; or, in other 
words, they are restricted to the functional 
development of life. There is no real growth 
where there is no life; nor can the growth 
extend to any power or faculty that is not the 
product of the vital principle. Illustrations 
of this fact abound in the physical world. In 
the vegetable kingdom, whatever grows is 
pervaded, to the remotest particle of incor- 
porated matter, by that indescribable and 
subtle power which we call vegetable life. In 
the animal kingdom, the vital force sends out 
its mysterious influence to every atom of the 
living body, and not the slightest element can 
become a part of the body without its quick- 



202 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ening touch. So, also, in the department of 
spiritual existences. The soul has life, and in 
it the law of growth prevails. We find this 
true, at least, so far as we are able to trace 
the analogy, and that probably exists much 
farther than we can follow it. Then, if this 
law of growth, as a function of life, obtains in 
the nature of spiritual beings, are we not 
bound to recognize its supremacy in the king- 
dom of grace — a kingdom whose sphere is in 
the spirit realm? And if so, is not the idea 
of " growth in grace" simplified, and its line 
of development identified, so that it can be 
distinguished from other lines of progress in 
the experience of salvation ? 

Sometimes, however, the word growth is 
used metaphorically to denote progress of any 
kind. Thus a country, or a city, or a Church, 
grows as it increases in numbers. A building 
grows as it advances toward completion. The 
Word of God grows as it multiplies converts. 
Growth, in the metaphorical sense, signifies ad- 
vancement, prosperity, success. In this respect 
there is growth in every department of Christian 
life and work ; and in this sense the advance- 
xnent may go on, reaching higher in attain- 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 203 

ments, and sweeping wider in the range of its 
influence, so long as life lasts, and possibly 
while immortality endures. This growth ap- 
plies to faith and obedience ; to prayer and 
consecration ; to sanctification and fellowship. 
It is the normal state of the living Christian. 
But it is not the growth in grace which is a 
distinctive feature of the experience or process 
of salvation. The real growth is not meta- 
phorical. There is in every child of God a 
new life which is not figurative ; a new nature 
which contains the vital principle implanted in 
regeneration ; a new heart which comprises 
the elements of a new character, in which are 
found the germs, the laws, and all the phe- 
nomena of growth, in the strictest sense. 
This new nature is the "new creation " — 
"the new man." It stands out in the Scrip- 
tures as the opposite of the "old man," which 
is corrupt, and must be "put ofif.' , The "old 
man" is the embodiment of the carnal nature, 
the "body of the sins of the flesh." It is to 
be "crucified," put to death, and "buried" 
into the death of Christ. The "new man " is 
the embodiment, so to speak, of the new life, 
the beginning of which is the new birth. Like 



204 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

all other life, its beginning is germinal, and its 
advancement toward maturity is of the nature 
of growth, always within the limits of its own 
powers, and in harmony with the laws of its 
own development. Then, it will be seen, that 
whatever element of character, or whatever 
virtue or grace, is an attribute of the new na- 
ture born in regeneration, is the product of the 
Holy Ghost, imbued with the divine life, and 
is, therefore, the subject of a veritable growth. 
This new nature in its feebleness, while 
undeveloped and immature, is complete in 
itself, possessing all the essentials of perfect 
manhood, as the " new-born babe" is endowed 
with the attributes of the future man. The 
new life is there, and the primal sanctification 
has been wrought. The next thing is growth. 
The new life is to be expanded. The new 
powers are to be unfolded. The new energies 
are all to find appropriate activity. The babe 
in Christ is to become a man. This is the 
growth in grace, and in the knowledge of 
God, about which we speak, and which is 
distinct in its nature from regeneration and 
sanctification, having its own laws, its own 
marks, and its own fruits. 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 205 

Growth, as well as life, has its limitations. 
It is limited as to extension. It is a function 
of life, and therefore it reaches only as far as 
the vital force sends its assimilating power, 
which is not beyond the organism or the 
entity it pervades. Hence growth in this new 
nature, which is the sphere of the life of faith, 
is limited to the "new man," and to the 
virtues necessary to the new character to be 
developed. These powers and virtues are the 
product of the Holy Spirit, and all the graces 
of the Spirit are included. Faith, love, meek- 
ness, humility, and all the graces, have first 
an embryotic existence in the new nature, and 
consequently the growth of that nature is 
manifested in the unfolding of these powers, 
and in their progress toward stability and ma- 
turity. As the new life increases in vigor, 
and the process of growth advances, faith 
enlarges its scope, and increases in activity 
and power; love abounds more and more 
toward God and men, while meekness and hu- 
mility, with all the passive virtues, shine out 
with increasing luster. All this is growth — 
the orderly expansion of the interior life ; 
the unfolding of the vital power implanted by 



206 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the divine Spirit at the birth of the soul into 
the family of God. 

This growth is likewise limited as to the 
degree of its development. It aims not at 
infinity, but maturity. It is subjective, and 
therefore restricted to its sphere; it is de- 
pendent, and therefore bound by its condi- 
tions ; it is functional, and therefore held firmly 
within the scope of the powers which are 
animated by the life that produces and governs 
it The process is complete when maturity is 
gained. Beyond that, growth is by accretion 
or acquisition, if it proceed at all. This is 
true, at least, in the physical world, and in 
the world of mind and spirit, so far as we are 
able to get hold of the fact; then why is it 
not equally true in the kingdom of grace? 
When the physical stature of manhood is 
reached, physical growth ceases. There may 
still be an increase of the strength of the 
muscles, a hardening of the sinews and bones, 
and a succession of healthful and unhealthful 
secretions and assimilations, variously affecting 
the proportions of the body; but growth of 
the body after maturity is out of the question. 
So also is it with the mind. It grows until 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 207 

maturity is gained, and then it grows no more. 
Under favorable conditions the mind reaches 
its maximum of strength in about double the 
time required to complete the growth of the 
body. After that it may acquire additional 
knowledge and skill, and exhibit increasing 
activity, and reveal powers that had lain dor- 
mant, but its intrinsic capabilities do not in- 
crease. It does not grow. After maturity it 
ripens, and gains steadiness, and bears fruit, 
but it makes no increase of intrinsic energy or 
capacity. And is it not so in spiritual things — 
in the new creation? Is there not a matu- 
rity, a perfect manhood — "the measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ" — to which 
the new man may come, and beyond which it 
can only ripen, and use its completed powers, 
and enjoy with undiminishing zest the per- 
petual unfolding of divine truth and love? 
Reasoning from analogy, and remembering 
the laws and limitations of finite existences, 
this conclusion seems inevitable. For surely, 
when every power of the soul is pervaded by 
the life of God, and every virtue of the Chris- 
tian character is matured, — when the "old 
man" is dead and buried, and the "new man" 



208 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



is put on — when ' ' Christ dwells in the heart by 
faith,' ' and the full stature of a perfect man- 
hood in Christ is attained, this is nothing less 
than to be "filled with all the fullness of God." 

The attainment of such a state must form 
an epoch in the experience of the Christian 
believer. In looking upon him, shall we hesi- 
tate to say, "Mark the perfect man?" His 
whole spiritual being bears the impress of the 
Holy Spirit, whereby he is "sealed unto the 
day of redemption." The life of faith per- 
vades all his powers. In him the graces of the 
Spirit — love, joy, faith, meekness, patience, 
and the whole constellation of Christian vir- 
tues — have acquired their full measure of 
strength, and on his heart rests the image of 
the Son of God. Is not this Christian per- 
fection ? 

This state of maturity is reached by growth 
in grace, or by the orderly unfolding of the 
life obtained in the new birth. It is the result 
of the growth which has its limitations and 
conditions. What are its conditions? 

These we shall find in considering its na- 
ture. It is the manifestation of an inward 
life, whose source is in the Spirit of God, and 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 209 

whose nature is incomprehensible, yet unques- 
tionably one with the life of God. Too little 
has been made of this life-element in connec- 
tion with the doctrines relating to Christian 
experience. It is the central power which 
directs and controls all the forces arrayed in 
the battle against sin ; the vital energy given 
in the new birth which invigorates the facul- 
ties, and sets them in harmonious relations, 
and gives them victory over the carnality that 
once held them in bondage, and still strives 
to regain its lost ascendency. As the divine 
life increases, the carnal qualities and tenden- 
cies of the soul die out, leaving additional 
scope for the exercise of the new powers born 
in regeneration ; and since this life comes from 
the Holy Spirit, it is sustained in the soul by 
the abiding presence of the Spirit. It there- 
fore follows that the conditions of growth in 
the divine life are identical with the conditions 
of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 

Then, on what conditions will the Holy 
Spirit abide in the heart? It must be remem- 
bered that the Spirit works with men prior to 
their conversion. It strives with sinners, and 
draws and urges them to turn to God, and 

14 



2IO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

leads them to repentance. When they yield, 
and accept Christ, it regenerates them, gives 
them the new life, and makes them new crea- 
tures in Christ ; and then, in addition to all 
this, and in a distinct sense, it comes to dwell 
with them as the Comforter, and abides with 
them as the Spirit of adoption. This is the 
gift of the Holy Ghost. It follows justifica- 
tion and regeneration, and witnesses to the 
believer, assuring him of his acceptance and 
of his filial relation. This gift is the presence 
of Christ in the soul. He is "formed within, 
the hope of glory." He dwells in the heart 
by faith — not in his bodily presence, but by 
his Spirit, the Holy Ghost. "He that hath 
the Son of God hath life, and he that hath 
not the Son hath not life. ,, "He that believ- 
eth on the Son shall not come into condem- 
nation, but is passed from death unto life.* 
Hence, wherever the Holy Spirit abides, there 
is life, and there is the manifested presence of 
Christ. Then, in order to the abiding of the 
Holy Spirit, it is safe to say that there must 
be the continuance of the conditions on which 
the * ' gift " was first received. There must 
be the absence of guilt and condemnation. 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 211 

Justification takes away the guilt of all past 
offenses, and reverses the condemnatory sen- 
tence of the law, so that "there is no con- 
demnation to them that are in Christ." This 
act removes all legal obstructions, and secures 
to the believer such relations with the law and 
the recto ral justice of God and such vital 
union with the Mediator of the new covenant 
that the Holy Spirit can come in with all the 
plenitude of his grace, and make known the 
Father and the Son. 

This gracious state, itself a most exalted 
privilege, is the essential condition of growth, 
and the conditions of its existence and con- 
tinuance are the same that secured the new 
birth. Preparatory to the new birth, and 
necessary to its occurrence, was repentance. 
This word represents a process in which there 
is an outward expression of an inward feeling. 
The outward expression may vary according 
to the temperament and surroundings of the 
individual and the peculiar character of his 
sins ; but the inward feeling, however diver- 
sified in its emotional elements, must be sub- 
stantially the same in all persons and in all 
stages of the religious life. It is a godly sor~ 



212 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

row for sin, well expressed by the word pen- 
itence. It is a loathing of sin, an inexpressi- 
ble sense of its odiousness, arising from a 
discovery of its nature, in connection with a 
distinct apprehension of the holiness of God 
and his law. This frame of mind is not pe- 
culiar to the period of seeking the Lord before 
pardon. It belongs to that period, and exists 
in connection with a sense of guilt and fear 
and shame. Pardon takes away the sense of 
guilt, and the fear and the shame, but the 
aversion to sin remains. Penitence becomes 
the permanent habit of the soul ; at least, it 
should, and does in all who retain the jus- 
tified state. Indeed, it is included or implied 
in the exercise of faith in Christ, not only 
at the time of justification, but continuously 
thereafter ; for saving faith can only arise out 
of a penitent heart. There is, therefore, re- 
pentance after justification — repentance in be- 
lievers — and this is as indispensable in the 
child of God in order to growth as it is to the 
seeker in order to obtain pardon. It is an 
accompaniment of saving faith through all de- 
grees of the divine life. Here, then, is the 
first condition of growth in grace. It is the 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 21 3 

continuance of that spirit of penitence and of 
faith in Christ which will hold fast the justified 
state, and secure the abiding presence of the 
Holy Spirit. 

Another thing is necessary in order to the 
indwelling of the Spirit. The soul in which 
it dwells is the temple of God, and, therefore, 
it must be holy. Sin, as we have so often 
seen, brings not only guilt and condemnation, 
but pollution. Justification removes the guilt 
and the condemnation, but not the pollution. 
The removal of pollution is a moral work, 
wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit. It 
is sanctification. We ascribe it to the blood 
of Christ, as nothing else can wash away the 
stain of sin. But the washing is not phys- 
ical, and, therefore, there is no application 
of the physical blood. It is a spiritual wash- 
ing, wherein not the literal blood itself, but 
the merit of that blood is made over to the 
soul by faith, and the real purifying act is 
performed by the Holy Spirit. We, there- 
fore, find in the Scriptures that sanctification 
is ascribed both to the blood of Christ and to 
the agency of the Spirit. The one does it 
meritoriously and the other efficiently. This 



214 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

work of cleansing the soul that it may become 
the temple of the Holy Ghost is necessarily 
antecedent, in the order of thought at least, 
to the occupancy of the temple by the abiding 
guest. It is a preparation for the indwelling 
of the Spirit, and, therefore, a condition of 
growth in grace and of that maturity of the 
Christian virtues which is the result of growth, 
and constitutes the perfection of Christian 
character. 

It is erroneous to assume that sanctifica- 
tion is the result of growth. It is an act, a 
work, a process, but not a growth. It ac- 
companies regeneration, for the primal cleans- 
ing then occurs ; it accompanies growth, for 
the continued cleansing is indispensable to 
growth ; and it accompanies maturity, for the 
completed cleansing is necessary to the ma- 
turity of the fruit of the Spirit. As justifica- 
tion removes the legal obstructions out of the 
way of the Spirit's indwelling, so sanctifica- 
tion removes the moral obstructions. The 
way being thus opened by the concurrent 
acts of justification, regeneration, and sancti- 
fication, issuing in the new life, God himself, 
by the Holy Ghost, takes up his abode in the 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 21 5 

heart, and sheds abroad his love ; and the 
new creature thus endowed, though a babe in 
Christ, starts out in the career of Christian 
living, and, being led by the Spirit, walks in 
all the will of God, growing up into Christ, 
the living head, and bringing forth fruit unto 
perfection. 

Since growth is a process of life, and is 
predicated primarily of the life element in the 
soul, which is the product of the Spirit in 
regeneration, it is well to remember that life 
and growth require not only the atmosphere 
of purity as the condition of development, 
but suitable nourishment as well. The body 
can not grow without food ; neither can the 
intellect. Why, then, should we expect 
growth in grace without spiritual nourish- 
ment? We dare not. " Except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, 
ye have no life in you." But his flesh and 
blood, given for the life of the world, are re- 
ceived after a spiritual manner. ' ' The words 
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and 
they are life. " " He that receiveth my word, 
receiveth me." Thus spake the Master. His 
Word is the bread of life, which nourishes the 



2l6 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

faith by which we live and stand and walk. 
' l Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." " Wherefore, laying aside all mal- 
ice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, 
and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, de- 
sire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may 
grow thereby/' The sacred oracles furnish 
the ''sincere milk of the word" for babes in 
Christ, and also the "strong meat that be- 
longeth to them that are of full age, even 
those who by reason of use have their senses 
exercised to discern both good and evil." As 
bread is to the body, such is the truth of God 
to the soul. 

Exercise is essential to growth. The graces 
given in regeneration are active powers. As 
the members of the body gain strength in use, 
so do these which belong to the new nature. 
The child of God must employ the strength 
he has, and appropriate the nourishment the 
truth affords, by activity in Christian work. 
The apostle says, ' ' Seeing ye have purified 
your souls in obeying the truth through the 
Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, 
see that ye love one another with pure hearts 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 2\y 

fervently: being born again, not of corrupti- 
ble seed, but of incorruptible, by the word 
of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 
Active obedience to the truth brings increas- 
ing purity, power, and life ; and it secures in- 
creased facility in work and keener relish for 
the things of God. All the duties and trials 
that make up our discipline in spiritual things, 
the temptations that assail, the obligations to 
be met and burdens to be borne, require act- 
ivity, and without it there is neither growth 
nor steadfastness. 

Such are the conditions of growth ; and 
this growth, as before stated, aims at matu- 
rity, at Christian manhood — perfection. Ma- 
turity and Christian perfection may not be 
separated. They are the result of the same 
divine agency and the same conditions. But 
sanctification is different. It is a divine work 
and tends to purity, to holiness. We first 
find it in regeneration — not included in -that 
work, but accompanying it as its complement 
and concomitant. It is next seen as a pro- 
gressive work, accompanying growth, though 
itself not a growth, but the continuous appro- 
priation of the blood of Christ, through an 



2l8 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

abiding faith. And, finally, we see it com 
plete in the ripened experience of the mature 
Christian, when the entire man — body, soul, 
and spirit — is sanctified wholly, and when its 
office is to preserve the subject of its purify- 
ing power blameless unto the coming of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. But while it is true that 
sanctification is not the outcome of growth, 
but its condition and helper, Christian perfec- 
tion is the result of the expansion of the in- 
ward life of the soul — a result reached when 
the "new man" attains the full measure of 
its functional development within the limita- 
tions imposed by its finite nature. This ma- 
turity of grace, this perfection of spiritual 
manhood — the product of the vital energy re- 
ceived in regeneration, and unfolded and en- 
larged in the process of spiritual growth — 
we repeat, implies, but does not include, the 
beginning and continuance of sanctification. 
The latter is not an indwelling principle, but 
a work ; it is an active and continuous work, 
in which the Holy Spirit is the agent, the 
Word of God the instrument, faith the condi- 
tion, and the quickened soul the subject. 
Hence, he is right who insists that regenera- 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 219 

tion and sanctification are distinct, and that 
the latter is not the result of growth from the 
former. Sanctification, in all its stages, is dis- 
tinct in nature from the life element produced 
in regeneration, and from the act of regenera- 
tion itself; but, being the act of the same 
Holy Spirit, and suspended on the same con- 
dition, and appropriated by the faith that 
brings and sustains the life of God in the soul, 
it is never absent from the man whose life is 
hid with Christ in God. Being God's own 
work, it does not fail when the conditions exist, 
Every Christian man is, therefore, a sanctified 
man to the extent to which the work of puri- 
fication has been carried on within him ; and 
we can not conceive of one born of God, and 
maintaining his acceptance, without having at 
least the defilement of his actual sins washed 
away. Hence, while growth is not purity, 
every step of advancement in the divine life 
brings more purity, and lifts the soul nearer to 
the sublime height of complete holiness. The 
growing Christian is increasing in holiness. 
The conditions of growth are the conditions 
of sanctification. Therefore, it is perfectly 
legitimate for the growing Christian to assume 



220 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

that he is growing into higher degrees of ho- 
liness, and "going on unto perfection/' 

Occasionally we meet with fallacious rea- 
soning on this point. Assuming that there 
is a difference between ^irity and maturity, 
and that growth aims at maturity, and not at 
purity, we are gravely informed that we can 
not grow into the grace of Christian purity. 
There is both truth and error in this state- 
ment. Look at the illustrations usually em- 
ployed: "You can swim in water, but you 
can not lie on the dry ground and swim into 
the water; you can dream in sleep, but you 
can not dream yourself into sleep ; you can 
breathe in this world, but you can not breathe 
yourself into this world/ ' This means, "You 
can grow in grace, but you can not grow into 
grace." Very well; but, being in grace, you 
can grow into more grace. You can grow 
into higher degrees of life, into stronger faith, 
and into deeper and broader love. Growth is 
predicated only of the regenerate, of such as 
are born of God. No one expects that any 
one shall grow in grace before he is in grace. 
But the regenerated man is in grace. He 
does not "lie on the dry ground" and try to 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 221 

swim ; for he is already in the water of salva- 
tion, and can swim into the deeper water, 
even out into the profoundest depths of the 
ocean of love. Illustrations mislead when 
misapplied. While growth is in the direction 
of maturity, the very conditions that secure 
the growth will secure also the attendant 
cleansing power; so that the living, growing 
Christian is as certainly advancing in the path 
way of holiness as he is growing up into 
Christ. His growth toward maturity is the 
highest proof of increasing purity. 



222 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter XIII. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 

METHODISM teaches the doctrine of 
Christian perfection, and attaches im- 
portance to it as a distinctive feature to be 
insisted upon in public and private, and because 
of this peculiarity she has encountered no 
little opposition, and has been compelled to 
vindicate her faith by earnest and continued 
discussions. Some progress has been made in 
the work of impressing her views upon the 
minds of other Christian people, so that but 
few of the old forms of disputation are re- 
quired; but the time has not yet come for 
silence, for many yet fail to appreciate the 
ground she occupies, or the spirit in which 
this faith is held. In former years, more than 
now, when the high privileges of faith were 
held up to the people, the charge of heresy 
was freely thrust into the faces of her preach- 
ers, while "perfectionist " was an epithet of 
reproach about equivalent to enthusiast or 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 22 3 

fanatic. In those days it was necessary to ex- 
plain the doctrine, to define the terms used in 
connection with it, to guard it against abuse, 
and to maintain it as consistent with the 
Scriptures, with experience, and with the con- 
ditions of spiritual life on earth. The litera- 
ture thus produced is exceedingly rich, and in 
it are found ample vindications of the doctrine, 
and clear and worthy representations of every 
aspect of the experience, so that, so far as 
the people become familiar with what has been 
written, there is little need of further exposi- 
tions. But many leave the older books unread, 
and since all clamor against the teaching of 
the Church has not ceased, there is call for 
"line upon line." 

This, however, is to be said : The advocates 
of Christian perfection are not all Methodists. 
They are found in all the evangelical Churches, 
and their numbers in other communions are 
rapidly increasing. The doctrine is being 
widely diffused. Old prejudices against it are 
dying out. Greater candor is evinced in the 
study of it by those who have not embraced 
it. The outlook is therefore hopeful for its 
still wider prevalence among the people of God. 



224 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

It is also true that multitudes teach it 
without being really conscious of the fact. 
They do not adopt it in form, nor do they use 
the same language in relation to it that its 
advocates employ, but in their own way and 
in their own language, in pointing to the pos- 
sibilities of grace in the soul, they describe 
substantially what is really meant by Christian 
perfection. In this way the Churches are 
drawing nearer together, and need only a bet- 
ter acquaintance with each other's real senti- 
ments, and a larger liberality in the use of 
words, to enable them to see eye to eye, and 
stand side by side on the common platform 
of Christian privilege, and work together in 
the promotion of holiness. The ambiguities 
of language are great. If we could only push 
our vision beneath the verbiage that clothes 
the ideas of our brethren, and see the thoughts 
they would express as they lie in their minds, 
we should find them sisters to the thoughts in 
our own minds, even when our words betray 
differences, and excite us to opposition and 
debate. It is thus that many Christians are 
looking to the same grace, and striving for 
the same goal, without suspecting the oneness 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 225 

of aim and meaning that characterizes their 
efforts. Their different banners alike mean 
loyalty to Christ, and death to all spiritual foes. 
There is substantial unanimity among the 
advocates of Christian perfection, although ap- 
parent disagreements now and then exhibit 
themselves. Much of this apparent disagree- 
ment is chargeable to the ambiguity of Ian 
guage. Some of it should be set to the account 
of inattention to the whole of the teaching of 
others. A single feature will strike the mind 
as incorrect, and at once the conclusion is 
reached that the brother is in error on the 
whole subject. Sometimes over-sensitiveness 
in regard to favorite expressions leads to 
needless disputations, and creates the impres- 
sion of greater differences than really exist. 
It is also true that in most instances where 
disagreements are found, they relate to the 
incidental questions which arise in connection 
with the doctrine, and not to the great fact 
that men may be made "perfect through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant." There 
has been an over-anxious desire with many to 
make the whole subject too plain to admit of 
diverse views, and theories have been put 

*5 



226 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

forth explaining the details of the experience, 
.even to the mode of the Spirit's work, and 
dissent from the preferred theory has been 
construed into unsoundness in the faith. This 
is one of the weaknesses of human nature 
which intense spirituality does not always over- 
come. We are less tolerant of differences of 
opinion than of other differences. To ques- 
tion a theory which one has adopted as his 
own, touches a very sensitive chord in the men- 
tal structure. Hence the slightest differences 
are liable to be magnified, and honest ques- 
tionings are treated as serious wanderings from 
the truth. These are some of the reasons 
why the apparent differences among the friends 
of this doctrine are greater than the real dif- 
ferences; and to all must be added the fact 
that spiritual pride and unaccountable sensi- 
tiveness and exclusiveness of feeling, bordering 
on the spirit of bigotry, have sometimes shown 
themselves in connection with the highest 
profession of this excellent attainment. It has 
been the misfortune of this doctrine, as of 
many others, to have some indiscreet advo- 
cates. 
; There are some things in the subject in 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 227 

regard to which all who believe in Christian 
perfection at all must unite. These are largely 
of a negative character, and will be accepted 
by nearly all Christians. It will be universally 
conceded that the perfection attainable in this 
life is not absolute. That belongs to God 
alone. His perfection is original, underived, 
independent, absolute. Ours is finite, derived, 
dependent, relative. It will also be acknowl- 
edged by all that ours is not the perfection 
of holy angels. They never sinned. They 
stand before the throne without fault or blem- 
ish. Up to the measure of their finite capac- 
ities, they are complete in character and per- 
fect in holiness in their own persons, and have 
never needed redemption. Nor will any fail 
to find differences between our highest at- 
tainments and the perfection of Adam before 
he sinned. There was no cloud upon his pu- 
rity, and never had been ; and the holiness he 
possessed was in himself, directly from God, 
without the aid of remedial agencies. Some 
hold that redemption will lift us to the height 
from which he fell; but that consummation 
will require resurrection power. We shall all 
agree, further, that the perfection now attain- 



228 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

able is not equal to that of ' * the spirits of 
just men made perfect " after the death of 
the body ; and then, of course, it is not up 
to the measure of the perfection attained in 
the resurrection of the dead. To all this may 
be added that none of us look for "sinless per- 
fection " in this life. We shall not get be- 
yond the power to sin, the touch of sin, nor 
entirely away from the effect of sin. While 
we may live in such intimate companionship 
with the Holy One that we shall not willfully 
commit sin, we shall be so encompassed with 
the limitations of our understanding and the 
infirmities of our being that the word " sin- 
less' ' will not apply to our highest possible 
development. This language does not belong 
to the vocabulary of the wisest friends of 
Christian perfection. 

Nor is this the whole of the negative side 
of this subject in regard to which there is gen- 
eral agreement. The perfection to which we 
aspire is not a perfection in knowledge. Of 
course, we can not acquire all knowledge, nor 
can we be perfect in the knowledge that comes 
within the range of our powers. We can 
know Christ, and we can ' ' know that we do 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 229 

know him ;" but we can not fathom the 
depths of his being, nor comprehend the mys- 
tery of his love. In this life "we know in 
part." Much less do we expect a perfection in 
wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge applied ; and 
while we know so little relatively, we shall not 
always make the best use of what we have 
learned. Nor shall we become perfect in 
practice. The imperfections in our knowledge 
and wisdom will inevitably lead to mistakes 
in daily life. We have no faith in human in- 
fallibility; not even if the combined wisdom 
of the Church could be centered in one man 
would it justify the claim to infallibility. As 
we know men and things imperfectly, we shall 
judge of them erroneously ; and wrong judg- 
ments will produce wrong sentiments and 
wrong actions. So long as we live we will be 
doing things that ought not to be done, and 
leaving undone things that ought to be done. 
Nor will all our mistakes be innocent. Many 
of them will or may be harmful to ourselves 
and others. In some we shall be blamewor- 
thy. More attention, warmer love, less selfish- 
ness — all possible — would have saved the 
wrong inflicted. We shall, therefore, always 



230 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

need forgiveness. No possible attainment will 
place us where we can afford to get on with> 
out the Lord's prayer. Imperfections will 
cleave to us till life ends, if our spirit and 
practice be measured by the perfect law of 
righteousness. There is no exemption for us 
from the limitations of our natures, and, 
therefore, no freedom from liability to do 
wrong. Hence, as we shall always need to 
pray, "Forgive us our debts," so shall we 
always need the merits of the blood of Christ. 
No past cleansing will keep us clean. A con- 
tinuous sanctification, in answer to an abiding 
faith, is all that can meet the requirements 
of our daily lives. Nor can we get beyond 
the reach of temptations. There is no prom- 
ise of exemption from temptations, but a 
blessing is promised to all who endure them: 
" Blessed is the man that endureth tempta- 
tion ; for when he is tried, he shall receive 
the crown of life that fadeth not away." 
Temptation in some form assails the holiest 
of earth, and he is unwise who speaks lightly 
of its power. The Son of man himself was 
tempted, and no servant can be above his 
Master. The broadest assurance given is in 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 23 I 

the words, * ' God is faithful, who will not 
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are 
able ; but will with the temptation also make 
a way to escape, that ye may be able to 
bear it." 

Here, then, in this recognition of the lim- 
itations of our nature, and of our constant in- 
firmities, and of the unavoidable liabilities to 
mistakes and' misdoings that attend us through 
life, and in the assumption that we shall al- 
ways need forgiveness and cleansing through 
the blood of Christ, there is sufficient allow- 
ance for the weaknesses and besetments insep- 
arable from the life in the flesh; so that no 
believer in Christ need take alarm lest the 
perfection contended for shall prove fanatical, 
and overlook the facts of our condition. We 
neither teach a perfection of knowledge, wis- 
dom, or practice, nor the attainment of infal- 
libility, impeccability, or any state from which 
there may not be defection. 

Then, what is Christian perfection ? What 
idea can be formed of a perfection which ad- 
mits of so much of imperfection? There are 
degrees in perfection, undoubtedly, and there 
is a possibility of being perfect in some re : 



232 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

spects and not in others, and there is a rela- 
tive and limited perfection as well as a perfec- 
tion which is positive and unlimited. The 
latter is not for us in this life, nor do we ex- 
pect it in finite existences in heaven. That 
which is relative and limited belongs to men ; 
and yet, limited as it is, there is enough in it 
to bring unutterable blessedness, and to com- 
mand our deepest reverence and gratitude 
toward Him whose abounding grace has made 
its realization possible. 

In defining Christian perfection as held by 
the Church, instead of seeking something new 
or strange, we shall accept the words of Mr. 
Fletcher, which have been held in high esteem 
ever since their publication in his last Check 
to Antinomianism, and have largely controlled 
the thinking on this subject of the ablest and 
most devout of our ministers and people, 
through all the ranks and generations of 
Methodism. Mr. Fletcher says that fruit 
grown to maturity is in its perfection, and 
adds: "We use the word perfection exactly 
in the same sense ; giving that name to the 
maturity of grace peculiar to established be- 
lievers under their respective dispensations; 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 233 

and if this be an error, we are led into it by 
the sacred writers, who use the word perfec- 
tion as well as we." After this, he amplifies 
the definition as follows : ' ' We give the name 
of Christian perfection to that maturity of 
grace and holiness which established adult be- 
lievers attain to under the Christian dispensa- 
tion ; and thus we distinguish that maturity of 
grace, both from the ripeness of grace, which 
belongs to the dispensation of the Jews below 
us; and from the ripeness of glory, which 
belongs to departed saints above us. Hence, 
it appears that by Christian perfection we 
mean nothing but the cluster and maturity 
of the graces which compose the Christian 
character in the Church militant. In other 
words, Christian perfection is a spiritual con- 
stellation made up of these gracious stars, 
perfect repentance, perfect faith, perfect hu- 
mility, perfect meekness, perfect self-denial, 
perfect resignation, perfect hope, perfect char- 
ity for our visible enemies as well as our 
earthly relations ; and, above all, perfect love 
for our invisible God, through the explicit 
knowledge of our Mediator, Jesus Christ. 
And as this last star is always accompanied 



234 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

by all the others, as Jupiter is by his satel- 
lites, we frequently use, as St. John, the 
phrase ' perfect love, [ instead of the word per- 
fection, understanding by it the pure love of 
God shed abroad in the hearts of established 
believers by the Holy Ghost, which is abun- 
dantly given them under the fullness of the 
Christian dispensation." 

It will be observed that in this definition 
of Christian perfection there is no distinction 
whatever made between perfection and matu- 
rity; and we call attention to this fact to im- 
press it as of great importance in the present 
aspect of the discussion ; for there are some 
among us making the subject prominent in 
their ministrations, who make much of the 
difference between maturity and purity, but 
do not recognize any distinction between pu- 
rity and perfection- — thus involving by inad- 
vertence the erroneous conclusions that purity 
and perfection are one, and that maturity and 
perfection are not one. The truth requires 
that this statement be reversed, and the fact 
clearly apprehended that maturity is perfec- 
tion, and that purity is not perfection, although 
it is an accompaniment which is essential to 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 235 

the attainment of perfection. We seek for 
purity now, and always, in the blood of Christ, 
and it comes by faith, preparing the heart for 
that diffusion of love which the Holy Ghost 
makes in the believer, according to the meas- 
ure of his faith and consecration. Purity 
comes from washing, from sanctification ; and 
maturity, which is the same thing as perfec- 
tion, comes from that development of the 
inward life of the soul which the Scriptures 
call growth. 

Mr. Fletcher is also very careful to intro- 
duce the word " established' ' before believer, 
and in one place inserts the word " adult' ' as 
a qualifier in the same connection. This is 
intended to guard against the notion that 
inexperienced, impulsive Christian faith, how- 
ever vigorous for the time, is capable of pro- 
ducing at once the ripened fruit of the Spirit. 
It is not the warmth of the heart, but its 
steadiness, its depth, its breadth of love, and 
its tested resistance to the powers of evil, that 
distinguishes the " established" believer; as 
it is through all the experiences of impulse 
and of emotion and of temptation incident to 
the Christian life that the settled and unmov- 



236 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

able faith is acquired, which may be truth- 
fully described as matured and ripened. Chris- 
tian perfection is, therefore, not a childhood 
attainment. It belongs to those who have 
grown upon the sincere milk of the Word till 
they are able to digest the strong meat of the 
Gospel, and whose spiritual senses are exer- 
cised to discern good and evil. It belongs to 
adult believers — to those who have become 
" rooted and built up in him, and established 
in the faith, abounding therein with thanks- 
giving." 

This description of Christian perfection gives 
the proper pre-eminence to love, as the master 
grace, the principal star in the constellation, 
the central sun around which all others clus- 
ter, and whose motions they obey as satellites 
obey their chief. This agrees with the Scrip- 
tures. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." 
' ' God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love 
dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is 
our love made perfect, that we may have 
boldness in the day of judgment : because as 
he is, so are we in this world. There is no 
fear in love ; but perfect love casteth out fear, 
because fear hath torment. He that feareth 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 237 

is not made perfect in love. We love him, 
because he first loved us. " 

Mr. Wesley, not less than Mr. Fletcher, 
exalts this grace, and finds in it the sum of 
Christian perfection. He says in his sermon 
on this topic: "What, then, is the perfection 
of which man is capable while he dwells in a 
corruptible body? It is the complying with 
that kind command, ' My son, give me thy 
heart.' It is the loving the Lord his God 
with all his heart, and with all his soul, and 
with all his mind. This is the sum of Chris- 
tian perfection ; it is all comprised in that one 
word, love. The first branch of it is the love 
of God ; and as he that loves God loves his 
brother also, it is inseparably connected with 
the second, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself. ' Thou shalt love every man as 
thy own soul, as Christ loved us. ' On these 
two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets ;' these contain the whole of Chris- 
tian perfection." 

Since "love is the fulfilling of the law, ,, 
and the whole of Christian perfection is com- 
prised in love, it will assist us in gaining the 
right conception of the subject, if we study 



238 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the meaning and the scope of that law which 
requires supreme love to God and equal love 
to man, and is fulfilled in this love. The 
standard writers distinguish between the para- 
disical law of innocence, under which Adam 
lived before he sinned, and the evangelical law 
of love, under which we are placed by the 
redemption that bought us from the curse of 
the first, and made the second the rule and 
measure of our obligations, under the cove- 
nant of grace. Of this distinction of law we 
must speak discriminatingly. The prohibition 
laid upon Adam w r as not the essence of the 
law, but merely an emanation, a formulated 
requirement, or rule of action, to serve as a 
test of fidelity to the divine authority. The 
same is true of the decalogue. The ten com- 
mandments are not the law of God as it 
exists in the divine mind, but only precepts 
embodying the will of God for the restraint 
and guidance of human conduct in life. The 
same remark should be made of the Levitical 
law, and of all the forms in which the revealed 
will of God respecting the duty of men is set 
forth in the Scriptures. Back of all the pro- 
hibitions, precepts, prescriptions, and statutes 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 239 

of the Bible, there is a divine law, of which 
these prohibitions and commandments are but 
manifestations or revelations for specific pur- 
poses. The law of God in its essence or 
substance, or in its fundamental principles, 
has its foundation in the essential attributes, 
of the Deity. It is not an act of legislation 
passed in the divine mind, which is subject to 
modification, suspension, or repeal ; it is the 
outgoing of the divine nature ; the necessary- 
rule of righteousness; the transcript of the 
eternal thought; the rule of the divine pro- 
cedure in the government of the universe. 
This law is like God himself. It is unorigi- 
nated, unchangeable, eternal, universal. It 
measures the obligations of all the creation 
of God. If we would understand it, we must 
study the character of the Almighty. What- 
ever moral qualities belong to him, belong 
also to his law. Is God just? His law is just. 
Is God righteous? His law is righteous. Is 
God good? His law is good. Is God holy? 
His law is holy. Is love the sum of all the 
divine perfections, so that in the pre-emi- 
nent sense, " God is love?" The same is true 
of his law. It is a law of love. "Love is 



24O CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the fulfilling of the law." "Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with 
all thy strength. This is the first command- 
ment ; and the second is like unto it, namely, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
Upon these two hang all the law and the 
prophets/' This is the sum of all obligation, 
the soul of all the precepts, commandments, 
statutes, restraints, and prohibitions in the deca- 
logue, and in all other formulated embodiments 
of the divine will. This conception of the 
law of love shows the unity of the moral 
universe, the oneness of law that binds all intel- 
ligences to the throne of God, and sets forth 
the animating principle of all holy obedience 
and activity throughout the vast domain of the 
King Eternal. Whether there be angels or 
archangels, cherubim or seraphim, employed 
in the mighty sweep of providential agencies, — 
all fly at the behest of the infinite will; all 
move in harmony with the infinite heart of 
love. 

The law of paradisical innocence requiring 
perfect obedience as a rule of justification, was 
a manifestation of the law of love suited to a 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 24I 

state of holiness; and the Redeemer's evan- 
gelical law of truth and grace is a manifesta- 
tion of the same law suited to fallen and 
redeemed humanity, enforcing the ultimate 
requirement of perfect love, under conditions 
supplied in the covenant of redemption which 
render the claim reasonable, and the duty 
practicable. There has been no repeal or 
modification of the law, — no lowering of the 
claim of God, — no readjustment of probationa] 
tests that implies a compromise with unright- 
eousness. The truth and grace in the Mediator 
of the new covenant attend the evangelical 
revelation of the law of love, lifting men 
through regeneration into the light of holi- 
ness, where with resuscitated energies they 
may love God with all their strength, render 
ing an evangelical obedience as acceptable to 
God through the atonement as an unsullied 
life of innocence in the unfallen state could 
have been. Thus the end of Christ's death is 
accomplished — "That the righteousness of the 
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not 
after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 

This perfection in love is not the sporadic 

development in unhealthy excess of a single 

16 



242 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

grace, while the other elements of Christian 
character, dwarfed and overshadowed, are left 
to a sickly and uncertain existence. It is not 
the emotional element in love alone that 
comes to maturity. Love is a passion, but it 
is also a principle, a virtue ; it is diffusive ; it 
touches all the virtues, and imparts to them 
its own nature, imbues them with its fragrance, 
and tinges them with its hues. It flourishes 
not at the expense of other virtues, but by 
fostering and building up all that spring from 
grace, and all that tend to the image of God. 
Mr. Fletcher's constellation of graces rhetor- 
ically expresses the symmetry and order that 
mark the growth of the Christian life. Each 
grace is a star; each star moves in its orbit; 
and while "one star differeth from another 
star in glory," each has its luster, and fills the 
measure of its magnitude. Love is the cen- 
tral light; and faith, and meekness, and pa- 
tience, and humility, and all the kindred 
graces, shine in the same spiritual firmament, 
and together shed the mild radiance of pu- 
rity and peace. This maturity in all the 
graces is the end for which the Christian 
ministry is ordained of Christ, as declared by 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IDENTIFIED. 243 

the apostle: "And he gave some, apostles; 
and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; 
and some, pastors and teachers ; for the per- 
fecting of the saints, for the work of the min- 
istry, for the edifying of the body of Christ : 
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and 
of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a 
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth 
be no more children, tossed to and fro and 
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by 
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, 
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but 
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into 
him in all things, which is the head, even 
Christ; from whom the whole body fitly 
joined together and compacted by that which 
every joint supplieth, according to the effect- 
ual working in the measure of every part, 
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying 
of itself in love." 



244 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter XIV. 

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 

THE thought will occur to every one that 
the Christian perfection identified in the 
preceding chapter is too deep and broad to be 
the product of an hour or a day of active be- 
lief and earnest seeking. There is in it too 
much of ripeness in the graces of the Spirit 
to have been acquired without persistent strug- 
gles with self and the world, requiring time 
and patience and study of the Word of God ; 
and yet we dare not fix upon a time in life 
when its attainment is possible, and assume pos- 
itively that it is unattainable by younger per- 
sons. The student of the Scriptures will have 
observed, however, that there are some grades 
of experience suitable to children, some to 
young men, and some to old men or fathers. 
The natural conditions of life are not ignored. 
Whatever grace may do for those who are 
called out of time, before the fullness of age 
rounds up the experiences of life, the rule is, 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 245 

that advancing years lift the believer to 
heights of holiness not found in childhood or 
early manhood. 

In order to understand this, and make no 
improper application of a truth so palpable, 
it is necessary to recur to the distinction so 
often made between purity and maturity ; or, 
which is the same thing, between sanctifica- 
tion and perfection. Purity through sancti- 
fication is always attainable. It is the result 
of the direct inworking of the Holy Spirit, by 
which the blood of cleansing is applied, in 
answer to faith in Christ. This is a present 
privilege, because it is by faith ; but the ma- 
turity of grace in the established believer rises 
out of this, and extends beyond it immeas- 
urably. The state of purity may become a 
matter of consciousness to the extent that 
there is no consciousness of remaining sin, 
while the perfection of Christian character is 
known by the consciousness of love unal- 
loyed and the exhibition of the fruit of the 
Spirit. 

That some reach the character of estab- 
lished believers earlier in life than others, and 
with more rapid steps, is not to be questioned. 



246 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

There are such differences in temperament, in 
the influences of early habits, training, and 
examples, that uniformity in experience and 
equality in progress are not to be expected. 
Variety characterizes the kingdom of grace as 
well as the kingdom of nature. It is found 
in all stages of experience, from the incipient 
awakening t6 conversion ; and from conver- 
sion to the full attainment of perfect love. 
When a sinner whose life has been spent in 
wickedness, with few opportunities for relig- 
ious thought, is converted, the transformation 
is palpable. His mind is enlightened, his will 
is subdued, his emotional nature is renovated, 
and all his spiritual powers are quickened and 
energized. Under the inspiration of his new 
experience he sees, feels, and acts as a new 
creature ; he lives a new life, seemingly in a 
new world. In every turn of spiritual exer- 
cise he finds freshness and delight. His testi- 
mony is positive, and all his manifestations 
of experience are prompt, decided, and con- 
fident. We are not surprised ; for the change 
wrought in him is wonderful. He sees all his 
blessings in sharp contrast with his former life 
and with his ill-deserts. But, then, here is 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION* ATTAINED. 247 

another, whose earliest life was given to God 
in the ordinance of the Church, and whose 
childhood years were spent in a Christian 
home, where prayer and praise and Christian 
conversation were always familiar. All his 
prepossessions were in favor of the Gospel. 
He never really doubted. As his parents 
taught him, so he believed ; and he believed 
because his parents did before him ; his faith 
is traditional ; but shall we venture to say it 
is not acceptable to God? We dare not. 
Time rolls on. This child of traditional faith, 
advancing to an improvement of his advant- 
ages, gradually discovers the grounds of belief 
in the Savior, and finds growing up in his 
heart a personal trust in Christ and corre- 
sponding love to him and his work ; and with 
this transition from traditional to personal faith 
he finds an increasing confidence that his soul 
is made partaker of the saving grace of God. 
Shall we doubt that he is born again? His 
conversion is less marked than the other; 
but shall we regard it as less real ? 

Temptation sometimes arises from this di- 
versity of experience. This child of prayer, 
with his orderly Christian life, comes into 



248 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

contact with the positive, outspoken testi- 
mony of the converted sinner, who describes 
his conviction, his sorrow, his great struggle 
of soul, and his joyful deliverance, — all so 
true and vivid to himself that he wonders how 
any can be satisfied with an experience less 
positive ; and the probability is that he who 
scarcely ever sinned willfully, or knew the 
bitterness of repentance, will begin to suspect 
the genuineness of his own conversion, and 
possibly, after the lapse of years, he will find 
trouble in comparing his experience with 
that of others whose regeneration was accom- 
panied by more impressive demonstrations. 
There is no way of avoiding the tempta- 
tions incident to this diversity of experience, 
but there is compensation in the enlarged 
views of the abounding grace of God which 
may result from the study of this variety. 
The temptation itself may lead to closer ex- 
amination and to a better grounded faith. 
But some of the difficulty may be overcome 
by the constant recognition of the fact that 
variety of experience is in harmony with the 
divine order, and by discouraging the prac- 
tice of making other people's experience the 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 249 

standard for ourselves, and of holding our 
own experience as the model or standard for 
others. No man's experience will exhaust 
the possibilities of God's grace ; and, there- 
fore, no man's experience can become the ex- 
ponent of the fullness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Christ, Each must learn to exam- 
ine himself in the light of the Scriptures, and 
to apply to his own heart the Scriptural tests 
of a gracious state, and to build upon the 
sure foundation, without reference to the pe- 
culiarities found in other people. In some 
temperaments powerful emotions inevitably 
attend conversion, and must be looked for in 
every step of advancement towards the matu- 
rity of grace. In others but little emotion is 
to be expected. The circumstances of their 
earlier lives do not warrant the belief that 
their transition into the kingdom of grace, by 
personal faith, will produce startling sensa- 
tions. Their experience grows with the de- 
velopment of their moral agency, and per- 
haps with as little emotional excitement. The 
main thing is the Scriptural standard of ex 
perience, which is the Spirit of adoption. 
Whether it come suddenly with the rapturous 



250 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

joy of conscious pardon, or reveal itself in 
the soul so quietly and gently as to require 
inward searching to verify its presence, it 
must be accepted as God's own testimony and 
seal, and nothing else should be allowed in its 
place. The time was in the history of the 
Church when this point received more atten- 
tion than now. May it not be that we have 
erred in not keeping it more prominently be- 
fore the mind as the real test of Christian life ? 
It is well to make much of the enjoyments 
found in Christian fellowship, and to speak 
of the highest possible attainments in the life 
of faith ; but even this should not divert at- 
tention from the inestimable privilege of all 
believers, the true basis of permanent joy in 
God, which is the abiding presence of tl\e 
Holy Ghost as the Spirit of adoption. All 
varieties of experience come back to this 
standard ; for in the manifestation of the Spirit 
of adoption there is variety enough to meet 
every peculiarity of constitution, temperament, 
circumstances, and outward condition ; and 
there is flexibility enough in God's plan of 
dealing with men to adapt his working energy 
to every particular case ; but the standard of 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 25 I 

privilege is invariable, as the law of God is 
unbending and the conditions of salvation are 
unalterable. The variety has respect to inci- 
dentals ; but the essential requirement of the 
new birth, followed by holiness ol heart and 
life, is in all cases imperative. 

The bearing of all this on the subject of 
this chapter is obvious. The same variety in 
the incidentals of experience which marks the 
earlier stages of the Christian life, should be 
expected all along the pathway of attainment 
till the summit is gained. As all are not 
awakened alike, and all do not repent alike, 
and all are not converted alike, so far as out- 
ward methods and manifestations are con- 
cerned, so all are not sanctified alike, all do 
not grow in grace precisely alike, and all do not 
gain Christian perfection in exactly the same 
way. The essential conditions must be met 
in every case, but the incidents, the manifes- 
tations, the emotional elements, will differ as 
in repentance and conversion. It is not pos- 
sible therefore to designate any one type of 
experience which has in it more promise of 
Christian perfection than another. The only 
way to the attainment is in the steady line of 



252 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

Christian living, each according to his light 
and surroundings, meeting duty as it comes, 
and pushing onward, with divine help, "toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
God in Christ Jesus. " But this assurance may- 
be given, that every Christian who maintains 
a good conscience, and grows in grace, and 
uses the means of spiritual improvement, is in 
fact, whether rapidly or tardily, gaining ground, 
and "going on to perfection. ,, 

One of the most serious difficulties in the 
way of intelligent progress is in the habit of 
confounding things that differ, and thus keep- 
ing one's self in the dark as to attainments 
secured, and in groundless expectation in re- 
gard to the future. Confounding purity and 
perfection, and being conscious that maturity in 
grace has not been reached, many fail to 
realize the presence of the all-cleansing blood, 
and put off the day of sanctification, as they 
suppose they must, till they can find within 
them the evidence of perfection in love. This 
is a mistake of sad import. Practically, it is 
like waiting to be made perfect, in order to be 
sanctified wholly. It reverses the order of the 
Gospel, and necessarily retards the work both 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 253 

as to inward cleansing and the development 
of the graces of the Christian life towards 
maturity. Others making the same mistake 
in sentiment, are betrayed into a different 
error in practice. Seeking earnestly and in 
faith for a clean heart, and verily believing 
that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sin, they confess the purity they seek, and 
call it Christian perfection — thus prematurely 
assuming to be "filled with all the fullness of 
God, " and complete in his will. Subsequently, 
finding that the graces of the Spirit were not 
perfect in them — that faith faltered, that love 
grew cold, that patience did not have its per- 
fect work — they fall into doubt, suppose them- 
selves to have been deceived in regard to the 
cleansing, or imagine that they have lost the 
blessing, and are really discouraged and hin- 
dered in their honest endeavor to grow up 
into Christ. That many, without evil intent, 
profess "perfect love, " and fail to realize its 
full significance, is true beyond question ; and 
that in the majority of instances, this mistake 
arises from mistaken views of the nature of 
the attainment, is just as true as the fact 
itself; and the false view, which is most fruit- 



254 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

ful of such practical mistakes, is the one which 
accepts the absence of the consciousness of sin 
for the maturity of grace and the complete- 
ness of Christian character. There is still 
need for line upon line in relation to this 
point; for no one can doubt that such error 
as leads to wrong professions, is injurious to 
the persons implicated, injurious to the cause 
of God, and to the Church at large. The 
doctrine of Christian perfection has suffered 
much at the hands of misguided friends. 

In order to the attainment of this gracious 
state, it is important that both the negative 
and positive sides of the subject be kept in 
mind. The negative side is the cleansing; yet 
cleansing is not a negative thing, but a posi- 
tive work. It is the direct and positive appli- 
cation of the blood of Christ, by the Holy 
Spirit, to the washing away of all sin — its 
guilt, its pollution, its very being, so that 
there is resultant a clean heart ; a, heart dead 
to sin, emptied of self, and prepared for the 
indwelling of the Spirit of God. There is, in- 
deed, much that is positive in this work of 
preparation for the heavenly guest ; and yet, 
when viewed as an aspect of the completed 



CHRISTIAN. PERFECTION ATTAINED. ,255 

work, it is but the negative side of the expe- 
rience of Christian perfection. It takes away 
obstructions ; it removes old stains and carnal 
biases, purges the passions and subdues the 
appetites ; but the work of filling the soul with 
the life and love and image of God is dis- 
tinct from this, and in the order of thought 
subsequent to it. The cleansing takes away 
what was in the heart; but the filling brings 
into it that which is new and divine. The 
cleansing may be instantaneous, because it is 
God's work, and comes in answer to pleading 
faith ; and in most instances it is attended 
with the profoundest sense of the presence of 
God, forming an epoch in the life of the soul 
to be remembered, because it gives new power 
over sin, and new victory to faith, and brings 
the much-desired peace of God which passeth 
all understanding. And it is not to be sup- 
posed that God thus comes to the soul, and 
cleanses it from sin, and leaves it unoccupied 
by himself. We can not imagine a human 
heart at once empty of sin and empty of God 
or of holiness. The Spirit that purges the 
dross abides to refine. He who prepares the 
temple occupies it. Yet the maturity of grace 



2$6 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

does not necessarily follow the indwelling of 
God until the guest is fully recognized and wel- 
comed, and his presence cherished and ac- 
knowledged. While it is possible, therefore, 
to fix the time of the cleansing — that is, the 
period of its consummation — with reasonable 
accuracy and confidence, it is not so easy a 
matter to point to a day or hour as the exact 
time when the fruit of the Spirit reached ma j 
turity, or the indwelling love of God touched 
the line of perfection. Nor is it certain that 
all the Christian graces reach maturity at the 
same moment. Some receive more culture 
than others, and consequently more rapid de- 
velopment. Some lack occasion for exercise; 
some meet with peculiar trials which may 
either hinder or hasten their growth, so that 
the instances are rare in which the whole train 
of virtues move onward with even pace toward 
the goal of symmetrical and completed Chris- 
tian character. There is a time when the 
youth growing into manhood reaches the 
measure of his stature, although he is not 
conscious at the moment when the process of 
growth is completed ; but he afterward realizes 
the fact, and is as thoroughly sure that he is a 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 257 

fully grown man as if he could point to the 
hour when he reached the fullness of his 
height. It is so in the Christian life. We 
may not tell when to date the maturity of 
grace within us, but if love is made perfect, 
and all grace abounds, so that every power 
of the soul is subdued to Christ, the con- 
sciousness of the fact will come, and we shall 
know by the Spirit which we have of God, 
that we dwell in him and he in us. 

Nor is it possible to estimate the time that 
intervenes between the complete cleansing and 
the perfection of the graces. By the complete 
cleansing is meant the thorough cleansing 
that takes away all the stains of sin, not that 
the process ceases ; for in this sense we can 
not speak of completeness. It goes on and 
on, and is continuous or unceasing; but it 
reaches a point of thoroughness when the 
heart is entirely clean. After this the fullness 
of love comes in, but how soon is not to be 
previously known. As before stated, in some 
the work advances more rapidly than in others. 
Much depends on the faith, the habits of life, 
the consecration, and the activity of the per- 
son. There is no rule given by which to de- 

17 



258 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

termine in any case what will be the rate of 
progress in the divine life. A profound con- 
viction of one's helplessness and need, followed 
by an unutterable groaning for full redemp- 
tion, with unreserved consecration, bringing 
such a baptism of the Spirit as will cut short 
in righteousness the purifying process, and 
powerfully invigorate all the spiritual faculties, 
will undoubtedly facilitate the maturity and 
perfection of love. Earnestness in seeking 
will hasten success in finding. A clear under- 
standing and a definite aim will bring victory 
much sooner than indefinite pursuit, how- 
ever conscientious. Vagueness is weakness. 
Concentration of thought helps the steadiness 
of the will, and improves the vigor and tone 
of all efforts in drawing near to God. Undoubt- 
edly many live for years in comparatively 
moderate attainments in religion, who might 
be ripe in experience, but for the lack of spe- 
cific instruction in regard to the fullness of 
Christ, and an intelligent and definite aim in 
seeking him. 

What, then, about the profession? It is 
plainly the duty of Christians to place them- 
selves on the side of the Lord, to acknowledge 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 259 

allegiance to Christ, and to bind themselves 
in all suitable ways to his service, by open 
committal and profession of faith. They do 
this in baptism, and in their union with the 
Church, and should do it by confessing him 
in word and deed, wherever they find occa- 
sion, remembering always that to be ashamed 
of him is grievously offensive to him. And 
yet there is no form of words prescribed by 
divine authority in which this profession is to 
be made. The Scriptures speak only of confes- 
sing Christ, and of the profession of faith in him. 
An intelligent profession of trust in Christ, 
and of loyalty to him, covers the whole ground 
of Christian profession, so far as it needs to 
be proclaimed to the world, or made openly 
before the unbelieving. Those who know him 
not will not appreciate more than this. But 
there is propriety in entering into the particu- 
lars of personal experiences in the presence 
of willing and serious hearers. In such pres- 
ence, where there is mutual confidence and 
sympathy, much greater freedom may be in- 
dulged, and there the faithful narration of 
what God is doing in the soul will minister 
edification to those who hear. By speaking 



26o CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

modestly of our attainments, and declaring 
even the great things that God is working in 
us, we may not only help others, but help 
ourselves; for the effort to speak will aid in 
gaining clearer views of our religious lives, 
and finding others profiting by our testimony 
will react favorably in settling our own faith 
and banishing doubts. Here we may pour 
out our souls in confidence, and own the 
unspeakable grace. There are some things 
in every one's experience too sacred to be 
thrown out to the unbelieving; but there is 
nothing in all God's dealings with our hearts 
which we may not profitably open to those 
who are like-minded with ourselves. In this 
intimacy of Christian fellowship we can dis- 
close our inward experiences of joy and sorrow, 
of doubt and faith, of conflict and triumph, 
not only without fear of casting pearls before 
swine, but with assurance of both doing and 
receiving good. Here, too, where kindred 
spirits mingle in worship, the earnest seeker 
for the crowning grace will find the most effi- 
cient helps in taking hold of the covenant with 
appropriating faith, and the best surroundings 
fir the final consecration. There is no better 



CHRISTIAN PERFECTION ATTAINED. 26 1 

place for approaching near to God than where 
believers shut themselves in from the world, 
for the time, and together cast themselves 
before the mercy-seat. In such conditions 
wonderful freedom of access is found; and if 
God come in power, and fill the soul with all 
the fullness of his presence, even to overflow- 
ing, let his name be glorified in declaring the 
mightiness of his love. As witnesses for 
Christ, we can not refuse to testify to the 
world of his power to save, while to the 
Church we make known the mystery of his 
grace in the full redemption vouchsafed to us, 
and in the complete establishment of our souls 
in righteousness. In this way it is possible to 
make profession of perfect love without offense ; 
and as this implies the possession of a clean 
heart, it is right to speak with even greater 
confidence of the presence and efficacy of the 
blood which cleanseth from all sin. Such a 
profession, sanctioned by a life of purity and 
active Christian work, will find favor with God 
and prove edifying to his people. 



262 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 



Chapter XV. 

HOLINESS. 

HOLINESS is the aim of all Christian 
endeavor, the crown of Christian ex- 
perience, and the essence of Christian character 
and enjoyment. 

Holiness and spiritual life are joined to- 
gether, if not identical. They are so related 
that one does not exist without the other, 
either in the individual, or in the company of 
believers which constitutes the Church. Where 
there is no life from God in the soul, there is 
no holiness ; and, on the other hand, wherever 
there is spiritual life, there is also the abhor- 
rence of sin, the love of purity, personal conse- 
cration — holiness. In measure or degree it will 
correspond with the life of faith. If the new 
life be feeble, as in the newly regenerated, the 
holiness is incipient ; and as the life develops, 
unfolding its powers, and extending its influence 
in molding and refining the spiritual nature, the 
holiness intensifies, matures, and strengthens. 



HOLINESS. 263 

Holiness is freedom from sin. In those once 
subject to sin, and defiled by sin, it implies the 
destruction of the reigning power of sin, and 
the washing away of all its pollution. By so 
much as we conquer sin, we become holy. 
Just so far as we strive against sin we strive 
for holiness. Every word, and act, and 
thought, put forth in opposition to sin, is an 
advocacy of holiness. All moral reforms tend 
to the promotion of personal purity. Every 
revival of religion is a revival of holiness. 
Whatever weakens the power of Satan upon 
the soul, and lifts the struggling penitent 
toward the light of truth, advances the work 
of Christian holiness. The conversion of a 
sinner elevates the standard of holiness; and 
every step of progress in the divine life pushes 
the standard higher. There is no growth in 
grace without an increase in holiness. Every 
victory over temptation, every answer to 
prayer, every act of communion with God 
which confirms faith and establishes confidence 
toward the Lord Jesus Christ, raises the be- 
liever into higher experiences of Christian 
purity. 

Holiness means victory over sin itself — not 



264 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

merely over the forms of sin. Lying, drunk- 
enness, debauchery are forms of sin ; so are 
all acts of cruelty, fraud, and oppression. Sin 
is embodied in them, and they should be op- 
posed as forms of evil ; but this is not enough. 
Too much of the work of reformers stops just 
here ; and sometimes as Christians we content 
ourselves with opposition to the forms of sin v 
Such opposition is largely ineffectual. The 
Gospel opposes sin itself, not only as mani- 
fested in outward forms, but as it exists in the 
secret chambers of the soul; and our warfare 
against sin should be directed against its es- 
sence or being — against the corruption of na- 
ture that induces it. We should consider it 
in the light of God's purity till it becomes 
"exceedingly sinful/ ' To "abhor evil" is a 
divine injunction. The Savior himself looked 
with anger upon wicked men, "being grieved 
at the hardness of their hearts." He saw not 
only the form, the body of sin, but its soul. 
His eye detected the essence of evil, the in- 
ward principle whence the unholy passion 
came, and his soul loathed it as odious in it- 
self, as hateful to God, and as ruinous in all 
its tendencies. He knew it as the work of the 



HOLINESS. 265 

devil, which he came to destroy. His sermon 
on the mount cuts the deadly root. His life 
was a condemnation of sin in the flesh. He 
sought to make the tree good, in order that 
it might bear good fruit ; to make the fountain 
pure, in order that it might send forth a pure 
stream ; and his was the only true philosophy 
of reform. 

Holiness is strength. It is power over sin; 
and, therefore, it gives advantage in the con- 
tests with the devil. Sometimes the thought 
comes to us that possibly a high state of grace 
will render us too delicate for the antagonisms 
of this wicked world ; that the more holy we 
become the more easily will our hearts be in- 
jured by the unavoidable frictions of earth. 
There are fabrics of such fine texture and high 
polish that a little rude handling will soil "and 
mar them beyond remedy. But holiness is 
not of this character. It is a shield, a de- 
fense, an armor of righteousness ; it repels the 
assaults of wickedness ; it gives sternness to 
courage, and nerves the arm for vigorous 
warfare. If it consisted merely in emotions 
and related only to the joys of the heart, it 
might be compared to the delicate things of 



266 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

earth — to flowers, or paintings, or polished 
surfaces, that please the eye, but can not be 
used ; but this is not the case. It relates to 
the whole man. It gives clearness to the un- 
derstanding, steadiness to the conscience, sta- 
bility to the will, and vigor to every virtuous 
exercise of the heart. Why, then, should any 
one be afraid of holiness ? It is religion ; we 
have some, and should have more. It is love ; 
we have it in some degree — why not desire it 
in higher degree ? It is life ; we have felt its 
animating throbbings in regenerating grace — 
why not seek its higher manifestations in com- 
munion with Him who is alive from the dead? 
It is the image of God in the soul, the atmo- 
sphere of heaven, the title to the inheritance 
of the saints in light — why allow it to be ob- 
scured with clouds and mists, when the prayer 
of faith and the Holy Ghost will banish all 
doubts, and keep the sky clear and serene ? 

Holiness is related to moral power, per 
haps as intimately as to spiritual life. The 
influence of the individual for good depends 
more on his personal consecration than on his 
talents or position in society. If poor and 
ignorant and obscure, yet devout and humble 



HOLINESS. 267 

and spiritual, his influence will be felt. If his 
testimony is clear and consistent, and given in 
the simplicity of obedient faith, it will be 
heard and accepted by all who observe his 
walk and spirit, whether it be clothed in ap- 
propriate words selected from the living ora- 
cles or be uttered in broken sentences and 
homely phrases. And what is true of the in- 
dividual is true of the Church. Although the 
membership be lacking in culture, and all use 
the simplest forms of speech, yet if they know 
the power of salvation from sin, and walk in 
the light of God's commandments, looking 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their 
faith, they will send forth an influence which 
will tell upon the community where they live. 
God's presence with them will supply all their 
needs, and make them more than all their 
enemies. The light of a holy Church can not 
be hid. 

This is the unanswerable argument for 
Christianity. There are other arguments, it 
is true, but none that equal this in moral 
force. Some are historical, requiring much 
general information in order to understand 
them ; and if these only existed, many would 



268 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

die without the ability to test their validity or 
sufficiency. Some are founded upon' an anal- 
ysis of the soul and a consideration of its 
powers, tendencies, needs, and adaptations ; 
but these are beyond the reach of many. 
The mass of mankind are not impressed with 
such arguments when brought to their atten- 
tion; much less could they be expected to 
pursue the metaphysical reasoning necessary 
to discover and apply them. Few infidels are 
ever converted by abstract reasoning, even 
among those capable of abstruse investiga- 
tions, and certainly the profane are seldom 
brought to Christ by arguments addressed 
merely to the intellect. It is important that 
all these arguments be made — that the truth 
of the Gospel be established by patient and 
laborious inquiry into the evidences of the 
antiquity, purity, genuineness, and authen- 
ticity of the sacred records ; but how few, 
comparatively, have the time or the means of 
verifying investigations of this sort ! Were 
each individual required to do this before he 
could trust in Christ and find salvation, the 
progress of Christianity against the corrup- 
tions of the human heart and the powers of 



HOLINESS. 269 

darkness would be slow indeed. The internal 
evidences of the divinity of our faith are 
highly satisfactory to the pious and thought- 
ful ; but these are ineffectual in restraining the 
passions of the wicked, and in arresting the 
attention of the thoughtless and wayward. 
Well that we have these evidences ! They 
bring great comfort to the believer, and form 
around him an impregnable wall of defense, 
which infidelity assaults in vain. To the be- 
liever himself the evidences arising from the 
experience of saving grace confirm the inter- 
nal and external proofs of the divine origin 
of his faith, and give him the fullest triumph 
over doubt, removing suspense, and staying 
his soul on the immovable Rock ; but these 
evidences can neither be seen nor felt by the 
skeptical. The believer has the witness in 
himself, knows whom he has believed, proves 
his own standing in the grace of Christ, and 
knows the doctrine whether it be of God ; 
but something is needed beyond all this to 
convince others of the trustworthiness of our 
faith and hope. We want proof that all can 
see and feel, that the learned and the un- 
learned can appreciate ; that requires no labo- 



270 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

rious investigation, no careful analysis, no 
scientific demonstration. We want an argu- 
ment that any one can use, that all caa un- 
derstand, that is always ready at hand, that 
reaches the heart, and never fails to carry 
conviction. We want such an argument to 
overcome ignorance, to conquer prejudice, 
to disarm infidelity, and to command the re- 
spect of every class of men in every condition 
of life. Can we have such an argument? 
Where is it to be found ? We have it only in 
the holy lives of the followers of Christ. They 
are "the lights of the world," "the salt of 
the earth," the "living epistles, read and 
known of all men." They are the witnesses 
on whom the Savior depends to defend his 
cause and to put to silence the gainsaying of 
the wicked. This is the great argument which 
admits of no dispute and never fears investi- 
gation. It reaches the high and the low, the 
learned and the unlearned. It requires neither 
time nor skill to comprehend and apply it. 
It gives the Church her aggressive power, 
and while armed with this argument there is 
no weapon formed against her that can pros- 
per. Whether we will or not, the world will 



HOLINESS. 271 

estimate our religion as they see it exemplified 
in our lives. This standard of judgment can 
not be revoked. "By their fruits ye shall 
know them." This had been true if the 
Savior had not said it. The body of believers 
are united "to show forth the praises of him 
who hath called them out of darkness into his 
marvelous light." 

Holiness is as closely allied to happiness as 
to usefulness. Every one concedes this in 
regard to the future state. None can enter 
the happy world without holiness. But how 
slow we are to realize that there is no real 
happiness in this life without conformity to 
the will of God ! Our hearts deceive us in 
this. The fascinations of sin allure us into 
opposite thoughts ; but the deeper experiences 
of life and the more careful reading of the 
disclosures of consciousness assure us that the 
measure of real enjoyment depends on the 
genuineness of our devotion to God and the 
purity of our lives. If our union with Christ 
is vital, steady, and unswerving, by a faith 
constantly apprehending him and continuously 
appropriating his merits, our joy in God will 
be deep, pure, and abounding. "If we walk 



272 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

in the light as he is in the light, we have fel- 
lowship one with another, and the blood of 
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. " 
Then the light of God's countenance is to the 
soul a fountain of life. His love becomes 
" rivers of pleasures. " His manifested pres- 
ence animates us with a zeal that wearies not 
and a hope that never falters. In this fellow- 
ship with God all duty is light, all service 
privilege, and disappointments and afflictions 
come as expressions of a Father's love, 
freighted with a Father's blessing. And why 
should not holiness bring happiness ? It is 
the death of sin, the casting out of evil, the 
washing away of stain ; it is the absence of 
doubt, the presence of God, the sure hope 
of heaven. 

The promotion of holiness is the mission 
of the Church. This was the life-work of the 
Son of God, and the design of his death. 
' ' He gave himself for us, that he might re- 
deem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 
himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
works." Then, as the work of the Church is 
to carry out to completion the mission ot 
Christ, its chief calling is to establish holiness 



HOLINESS. 273 

in the earth. This is particularly the provi- 
dential allotment of Methodism. Mr. Wesley 
never felt that he was called of God to found 
a denomination ; but he continually proclaimed 
that God had thrust him out to raise up a 
holy people. The Methodist Discipline an- 
nounces that our calling is to spread " Scrip- 
tural holiness over these lands." Every min- 
ister ordained in the connection believes in the 
doctrine, expects to be made perfect in love 
in this life, groans after full redemption, and 
pledges fidelity to this calling. How, then, 
with any consistency, can this topic be made 
a specialty or an exceptional thing in the 
Church? It is the common duty and privi- 
lege of all the thousands of our Israel, the 
aim of all our services, the end of all our 
preaching, praying, singing, and evangelizing. 
It is too late to say that we are unscriptural. 
The Gospel is full of the thing we mean. It 
pervades the law and the prophets, the types 
and promises, the songs and sermons, the 
narratives and epistles of the Old and the New 
Testaments. It thunders from Sinai, and 
shines from the Mount of Beatitudes. It 
comes down to us through the ages, attested 

18 



274 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

by the testimony of martyrs and saints, and 
we hail it as the heritage of the Church till 
time shall end. Technicalities are of little 
value. Freedom from sin is the great thing. 
" But now being made free from sin, and be- 
come servants to God, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life. '* The- 
orizing is unprofitable ; speculations as to the 
mode of its attainment may bewilder and con- 
found ; but earnest striving in the line of duty 
and trust will bring the light of salvation. 
Clothed with this experience, the ministers in 
the Church are armed for their holy. warfare. 
Self-sacrifice becomes easy. Toil yields de- 
light. The burden of souls calls forth their 
noblest energies. The favor of God gives 
success. But holiness is needed in the mem- 
bership as well as in the ministry, in order to 
accomplish the mission of the Church. All 
the Lord's people should be holy. God com- 
mands it, and the work to be done in the 
midst ofa " crooked and perverse generation" 
requires that they come up to the highest 
standard of Gospel experience. Every true 
pastor, in looking anxiously over his field of 
labor, feels that this is true, and yearns for 



HOLINESS. 275 

the heavenly baptism that will bring upon his 
people the increase of life and efficiency. But 
the people seldom surpass the minister in 
seeking personal attainments in grace. He 
who watches over them, and feeds them with 
the bread of life, must lead the way in per- 
sonal consecration. His own soul must glow 
with the sacred fire before he can be instru- 
mental in kindling the flame in others. 

Personal holiness is a conservative power 
in the Church. A high state of experience in 
salvation implies such self-abasement, such 
humbleness of mind and spirit, and such ac- 
quiescence in the will of God and the order 
of Providence as precludes that restlessness 
and ambition which often attend agitations of 
reform in doctrine and polity, and which 
sometimes usurp the place of zeal for right- 
eousness. Not that the most advanced Chris- 
tians are indifferent to the teaching and order 
of the Church ; they are not indifferent to any 
thing pertaining to the faith and spirituality 
of God's people ; but they are quick to dis- 
cern and prompt to rebuke the approach of 
evil, as their "enlightened understandings'* 
enable them to exercise a " godly judgment " 



276 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

with readiness ; but they do not magnify their 
own orthodoxy so as to rest in that alone, nor 
imagine that the Church will die because their 
wishes are not gratified in all methods of ad- 
ministration. Their charity abounds as their 
faith enlarges its range of vision, and their 
spiritual eye takes in the relative value of in- 
ward purity and outward forms. There can 
be little doubt that if the experience of the 
" fullness of the blessing of the Gospel " were 
general in the ministry and the membership, 
the danger of impairing our priceless herit- 
age of doctrines and usages by unwise spec- 
ulations and needless innovations would be 
greatly diminished. In the great Reformation 
Luther failed to lead the people to the highest 
attainments in Christian privilege because of 
the necessity that was upon him to contend 
for the rudiments of evangelical doctrine and 
for radical innovations upon ecclesiastical prac- 
tices. Wesley succeeded because he made 
experience a specialty, and gave prominence 
to all doctrines bearing upon experience, and 
held fast to the Church as he found it. He 
made personal holiness the first and constant 
aim of his ministry, and allowed forms and 



HOLINESS. 277 

usages to adjust themselves, as of necessity - 
they would, in consonance with the spiritual 
wants of the people, as these were success- 
ively shown in the progress of his unexam- 
pled successes. If we mistake not, this was 
the secret of his power. For the first time 
since the apostles, he began a reformation in 
the Church without direct war upon estab- 
lished usages ; and, while in looking backward 
we can see that the erection of a new ecclesi- 
astical economy was inevitable, he persistently 
refused to consider any theory of Church gov- 
ernment as essential to his work only so far 
as experience and necessity pressed upon him. 
Had he started out to remodel the govern- 
ment of the Church, or to set up and put in 
operation a previously conceived plan of dis- 
cipline, the probability is that his failure would 
have been so complete that the present gen- 
eration would scarcely have known of his ex- 
istence. But no such thought entered his 
heart, and multitudes of redeemed souls will 
praise God forever that his sole aim was to 
spread Scriptural holiness. This thought ab- 
sorbed him, but it did not contract his powers. 
Its tendency was to broaden his views, to 



278 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

extend the horizon of his vision and his faith ; 
and there is no reason to doubt that a similar 
spirit will give to all of us a higher apprecia- 
tion of the evangelical forces at work in the 
Church, without dimming our perceptions of 
the right relations of external forms. In all 
the past, those in the Church most eminent 
for sanctity, and distinguished for efficiency 
in promoting vital godliness, have never shown 
much zeal for innovations or concern about 
ecclesiastical polities. 

An increase of personal holiness is needed 
to secure steadiness and stability in the Chris- 
tian life. The fluctuations of zeal on the part 
of professed Christians is a source of continual 
anxiety to every godly person. We wish to 
see the whole membership standing fast in one 
spirit, striving together for the faith of the 
Gospel. How shall this desirable condition 
of things be brought about? It can not be 
till crucifixion to the world, a single eye, and 
a consecrated life, become the rule instead of 
the exception. It is not the fault of religion 
ithat professors are so fickle. The trouble is 
in human nature, and in the lack of thorough- 
ness in personal experience. The weaknesses 



HOLINESS. 279 

complained of are the results of depravity, 
not of grace, and they can only be overcome 
by more grace. The faltering follower of 
Christ needs to be *' rooted and grounded in 
love;" he needs to be " strengthened with all 
might by the Spirit in the inner man;" he 
needs to be f * filled with all the fullness of God. " 
When he comes to this standard, and reckons 
himself indeed dead unto sin, and alive unto 
God, his stumblings will cease. Habits of 
duty will be formed and followed, fixedness 
of mind will prevail, and then the upward 
path of life, all radiant with the smile of 
heaven, will be pursued with cheerful joy. 

The blessing of holiness is needed to keep 
alive the aggressive spirit in the Church. The 
inclination to ease and quiet is natural to the 
ministry and membership, and as deplorable 
as natural. This is palpable to every observer. 
No argument is required to prove it, nor illus- 
tration to make it plain. The Church too 
often sleeps, while the restless activities of sin 
rush the multitudes to perdition. The tide of 
intemperance rolls over the land, mocking the 
Church to her face. The Sabbath, as an 
institution of God, reels beneath the tread of 



28o CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the armies of desecration. Sensuality reaps 
its harvest of ruin from the very doors of the 
sanctuary. Extravagance and prodigality stare 
us in the face. Bribery and corruption jn 
high places are alarmingly common. Profanity 
pollutes the atmosphere we breathe, Under 
the innocent name of amusements the poison 
of immorality and death reaches the house^ 
holds of thousands of our people. The popu- 
lar literature teems with insidious infidelity, 
while the most valued of our secular papers 
pour into our families the unblushing iniqui- 
ties of the dissolute, and the reckless risks of 
gamblers, with their losses and gains, as coolly 
and carefully prepared as any news that trans- 
pires. The mystery of iniquity works with 
all diligence. Where shall we find the anti 
dote to the demoralizing tendencies around 
us ? By whom shall the Spirit of the Lord lift 
up a standard against this flood of evil, if the 
Church be not girded for the conflict? Who 
shall beat back the hosts of sin, and gather the 
outcasts into the fold, if the Church possess not 
the aggressive spirit ? And how shall this spirit 
be maintained without the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost upon the ministry and membership? 



HOLINESS. 28l 

There is need that the line between the 
Church and the world be more closely drawn. 
The friends and enemies of the Gospel should 
stand face to face. The nations lie at the feet 
of the Church, and the God of nations bids 
us rise and occupy all lands. With all the 
adverse agencies so adroitly mustered into the 
service of sin, the God of our fathers is work- 
ing salvation in the earth. Above the storms 
that rock the civil powers of the world, his 
voice calls for aggression in his name. The 
civil commotions of Europe, and Asia, and 
Africa, relate as much to questions of educa- 
tion and religion as to forms of government 
and distributions of power. It is indeed im- 
possible to look over the condition of the 
world, to scan the agitations of society closely 
enough to catch the under-currents of thought 
and feeling, without being impressed that God 
is shaking the nations, and preparing for reve' 
lations of his power such as have not been 
witnessed in our day, and were not seen in 
the days of our fathers. The wonderful growth 
of the wealth and power of the Protestant 
nations, and the increase of facilities for trans- 
lating and spreading the Word of the Lord, 



282 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

when considered together, and in connection 
with the strifes prevailing in Papal, Moham- 
medan, and pagan countries, reveal providen- 
tial interferences for the enlargement of the 
kingdom of heaven, too marked to be mis- 
understood. The subjugation of material na- 
ture to the activities of the age, resulting in 
such astounding progress in the improvement 
of the means of communication with the ends 
of the earth, awakens admiration and wonder, 
and leads to the contemplation of the grand 
moral purpose for which preparation is being 
made. That purpose is readily divined. It 
is the conquest of the world for Christ ! Who 
can doubt it? All the successive triumphs of 
science in drawing from nature her secret 
forces — all the tireless energies of commerce 
in joining the nations in closer relationships — 
and all the agitations of the vital questions 
of individual and social rights prevailing in so 
many countries — and all the readjustments of 
the relations of Church and state so marvel- 
ously going on in the Christian world, point 
unerringly to the promised gathering together 
in one of all things in Christ, and the estab- 
lishment of his Church upon the high places 



HOLINESS. 283 

of the earth, where all nations shall flow 
unto it. 

What preparation is the Church making 
for her high calling in the providential plan ? 
Will she prove equal to the occasion? Will 
she step into every open door? Not unless 
her heart is stirred by the inspiration of holi- 
ness. The spirit of revival is needed. The 
aggressive power comes not of wealth, num- 
bers, social position, learning, or refinements; 
it is the breath of prayer — the spirit of holi- 
ness — that gives her strength, and that stead- 
ies her steps in the line of battle. Let her 
ministry have the unction of the Holy One, 
and her membership the consecration of a 
living faith, and her power is next to resist- 
less. Her benevolent treasury will not lack ; 
her institutions of learning will not languish; 
her call for missionaries will not be unheard ; 
her testimony for Christ will not excite de- 
rision. When the Church comes back to the 
simplicity of the Gospel and to the primary 
purpose of her calling, and puts on the gar- 
ments of full salvation and the armor of es- 
tablished righteousness, her march to victory 
will be certain and her triumph glorious. Let 



284 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

none imagine this impossible. God dwells in 
Zion. We can not fathom the philosophy 
of revivals ; but they come ; and a revival 
which shall be not merely a quickening of the 
emotional element in religious services, but 
an increase of faith and love and zeal — an 
invigoration of the spiritual life of the Church, 
attended by an overpowering consciousness of 
individual responsibility for the salvation of 
souls — will accomplish wonders. 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 285 



Chapter XVI. 

THE TWO AGENCIES. 

IN the preceding chapters enough has been 
said to show that in the experiences of 
the Christian life we are in one sense passive 
and in another active. Perhaps the subject is 
clear enough, and yet there are a few points 
worthy to be impressed, even by reiteration. 
The subject of our powerlessness on the 
one hand, and of our responsibility on the 
other, will always be more or less perplexing, 
and our best reasonings will be inadequate to 
the removal of the difficulty unless we study 
the union of the divine and the human agency 
in the work of salvation from sin. Correct 
ideas of this union are valuable in the eluci- 
dation of the earlier processes or the incip- 
ient stages of experience, and they become 
more and more indispensable as we advance 
to consider the problems of the higher life 
of frith and holiness. If it be true that holi- 
ne«* Is the result of a sanctification which is 



286 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the work of God, it follows that the divine 
agency has much to do with it; and if per- 
fection results from growth, as holiness from 
sanctification, the divine agency is necessary 
in the beginning, the progress, and the com- 
pletion of the process. 

We shall confine our remarks to these 
higher experiences, although it is not to be 
forgotten that in all stages, from the incip- 
iency to the fullest maturity of grace, as well 
as in the activities of obedient faith, while we 
"work out our own salvation/' we say truly, 
" It is God that worketh in us, both to will 
and to do, of his good pleasure/ ' The work 
of planting the divine life in the soul is emi- 
nently the work of God. He alone can break 
the reigning power of spiritual death, and 
awaken the dormant energies of our spiritual 
natures into the life and activity of personal 
faith. His Spirit not only imparts life, but 
does the work of preparation for growth. He 
removes impurities from the soul, and he re- 
adjusts its powers and passions, subordinating 
the animal to the spiritual, and gives such 
liberty and direction to the vital forces as to 
create the possibility of advancement towards 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 287 

maturity. Every virtue is the product of the 
Spirit's influence, and every step of progress 
reveals the Spirit's presence. At no period 
in life do we attain to independence, or reach 
a position in which or from which advance- 
ment can be made, without the active working 
in us of the divine agency. 

This fact is fundamental ; and yet all this 
work of faith, growth, and holy living is rec- 
ognized in the Scriptures as our own, and the 
responsibility for failure in it rests upon our- 
selves. The great truth underlying this mys- 
tery is the fact that the divine agency never 
supersedes the human agency during proba- 
tion. In every step of advancement we are 
called to activity, to concurrent action, to 
hearty co-operation with God working in us. 
His plan is to work with us and for us for 
our salvation, but never against us nor with- 
out our concurrence. We depend on him 
always and in every thing, yet he awaits our 
movement in consenting and working as really 
as if he were dependent on us. As said the 
Savior himself, so may every disciple say, in 
this sense, ' ' My Father worketh hitherto, and 
I work. " There is mystery in this, of course. 



288 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

We can neither comprehend the manner of 
the union or working together of the two 
agencies, nor the reason why it is necessary; 
but the fact is unquestionable, and because 
of the fact the duty is upon us to " work out 
our salvation with fear and trembling. " How- 
ever deep the mystery, it is clear that the 
nearer we approach to God, and the more 
perfectly we enter into active co-working with 
him, the more perfect will be the blending of 
the two agencies in ourselves, and the higher 
the degree of our freedom, and the more com- 
plete our victory over sin. By making the 
will of God the supreme law of our life and 
being, we come into higher union with Christ, 
into fuller communion with the Holy Ghost, 
and share more largely in the liberty which 
the Son of God bestows. Our work is most 
truly our own when it is wrought in God ; 
and when our thoughts and deeds spring from 
fellowship with Christ and from motives and 
impulses in accord with the reigning law of 
love in our souls, they will be not less our 
own, but more truly divine than is possible 
in a lower state of grace. 

This union or co-working of the divine and 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 289 

human agencies is not less positive in sancti- 
fication than in going on to perfection. The 
cleansing efficacy is all in the blood of Christ, 
and the efficient agent in the application of 
that blood is the Holy Ghost, so that the 
work is truly divine ; yet the appropriation 
of the cleansing blood by the Holy Ghost is 
through faith. The heart is purified by faith 
and in obeying the truth, and through active, 
earnest self-denial and holy living. This truth 
stands out upon the face of the Scriptures, 
that in sanctification, as in all the aspects of 
the process of salvation, God's work does not 
supersede our agency, but requires submission 
to his terms and methods, and the consent 
of all our active powers to his immediate 
guidance and control. It is ours to cease to 
do evil and learn to do well. If we would 
be sanctified to God, we must, by the exer- 
tion of our own powers, quickened and ener- 
gized by the Holy Spirit, put away from our- 
selves all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, per- 
fecting holiness in the fear of God. The 
command is imperative, "Be ye holy." It 
comes with the implication of power to obey 
it. We are called upon to "wash us and 



29O CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

make us clean ;" to "put away the evil of ou* 
doings;" to " cast off the unfruitful works 
of darkness;" to "put off the old man," and 
to "put on the new man;" and the apostle 
says, " Every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself even as he is pure." 

The most perfect realization of the union 
of the divine and human agencies is in the per- 
son of Christ. He was Emmanuel — God with 
us. In him dwelt all the tullness of the God- 
head bodily, and in him was found every at- 
tribute of a perfect manhood; yet there was 
no conflict of wills nor any suspension of 
agency. As God and man united in one per- 
son, he was the model and the basis of the 
ultimate union of our wills with God's will. 
We can not intelligently read his intercessory 
prayer without being impressed with this 
truth. He contemplated nothing less than a 
perfect union between himself and his follow- 
ers, by which they should be made perfect in 
him, and perfect in their fellowship one with 
another. This consummation is reached when 
the faculties of the soul are all purified, when 
the human will is linked to the divine will, 
and God's plan of working and saving men is 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 2gl 

freely accepted without murmuring or mental 
reservation, and the human will thus united 
to "the divine asserts its rightful lordship in 
the empire of the mind and passions. It is 
unto this height of fellowship we are called. 
Why, then, are we not complete in Christ? 
Why are we not perfect? Why is not holi- 
ness the atmosphere in which we live and 
walk ? The lack is not in the cleansing fount- 
ain. It is not the fault of the Holy Spirit, 
whose office it is to make holy. The will 
of God is not at fault; for this is his will, 
even our sanctification : nor can the failure be 
charged upon the divine calling ; for God hath 
not appointed us to uncleanness, but to holi- 
ness. The divine agency makes no failures, 
nor does it move tardily when we are ready. 
The blameworthiness is all our own. We do 
not allow ourselves to come fully into the cor- 
dial sympathy with the divine plan and pur- 
pose that is requisite. At some point we 
falter. It may be through lingering unwill- 
ingness to part forever with sin, or that we 
hesitate in order to comprehend the process 
or to imagine the emotional results, or, possi- 
bly, to settle our mental questionings as to 



292 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

the nature and degree of evidence to be re- 
quired as satisfactory; for some reason faith 
staggers. God calls and urges, the Spirit 
strives, the Word of God becomes luminous 
as we read its "exceeding great and precious 
promises ;" and yet we shrink back in doubt. 
An indefinable fear holds us from venturing 
out upon the divine Word. The conscious- 
ness of every Christian who has tested his 
heart at this point, whether he has gone up 
the mountain at the call of God or still 
lingers tremblingly at its base, will testify that 
the failure is in the human agency — in the 
misgivings found within himself. His acqui- 
escence in the will of God is not complete ; 
and, therefore, the full efficacy of the blood 
of atonement is not apprehended, and its ut- 
most cleansing power is not realized. 

If the treatment of the subject were strictly 
theological, the questions of the synergistic 
and monergistic controversy would here come 
in for consideration ; but it is beyond our aim 
to give a scientific or systematic analysis of 
the doctrines related to the experience of the 
soul in passing from death unto life. The 
fundamental facts underlying the monergistic 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 293 

theory are not inconsistent with the position 
here assumed, although it is decidedly syner- 
gistic. The Augustinian monergism, how- 
ever, finds nothing for the human agency to 
do in regeneration or turning to God. Its 
conception of the utter helplessness of the 
soul through the sin of Adam, imputed to 
the race and punished in the succeeding gen- 
erations, and its exalted notions of the divine 
sovereignty in applying the benefits of the 
atonement to chosen individuals of the race, 
without conditions, necessitates the exclusion 
of the human agency, not only from the ex- 
ercise of the power that regenerates and sanc- 
tifies, but from the active co-operation with 
the Holy Ghost in consenting and trusting as 
conditions to his work. We consent to its 
allegations of the inherent inability of man 
to move in the matter of regeneration till 
touched by a measure of resuscitating power 
from God ; but we claim that through the un- 
conditional benefits of redemption the touch 
of life-giving energy comes to every one, so 
as to secure the conditions of a personal pro- 
bation, and that without this there is no 
personal responsibility, and with it there is 



294 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

gracious ability in the soul to meet the re- 
quirements of the Gospel as conditions of per- 
sonal salvation ; and that the Gospel requires 
the performance of the imposed conditions in 
order to the exercise of the divine power 
which regenerates and sanctifies. Theologic- 
ally, our position is synergistic. The power 
that saves is divine. God alone can quicken 
the dead soul. He alone can regenerate. He 
alone can make the leper clean. But his grace 
has so arranged that we can co-operate. Our 
responsibility is real. Our ageney is a factor 
in salvation by divine ordination. We do not 
regenerate ourselves, but we do perform the 
antecedent conditions ; and God requires this, 
and will not consummate the work without 
our consent, rendered or expressed in this 
performance. The human will is thus invested 
with power to withstand the infinite love and 
grace of God — not to say Omnipotence ; for 
Omnipotence, in the sense of force, takes no 
part in this transaction. It is not a question 
of force, but of grace — not of coercion, but 
of moral influence. God works in us that 
we may have a good will, and with us when 
we have a good will, and in all his inworking 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 295 

he respects the nature of the soul, with its 
attributes of rationality and moral freedom. 
The divine agency neither overpowers nor 
violates the human agency. 

We can not tell how the two wills com- 
bine, nor how the two agencies move together 
each in its sphere, to the accomplishment of 
the same end, any more than we can tell how 
the sunshine and rain unite in fructifying the 
earth ; but that they do work together is as 
certain as that the farmer works with the sun- 
shine and rain in producing his crops. For 
us to decline working with God because we 
can not understand his methods, is as unwise 
as for the farmer to refuse to sow his seed 
because he can not tell the reasons for the 
changing seasons, nor trace the influence of 
the sunshine as distinct from that of the rain 
in maturing the grain. 

The thought has often occurred to us that 
we theorize too much in relation to Christian 
experience — not that we would undervalue 
truth, but we push our speculations too far. 
We seek to comprehend the mode of God's 
work, and the reasons for it, as well as the 
terms and results. But God does not give 



296 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

account of himself so far as to explain the 
reasons of his actions ; neither does he declare 
the mode of the Spirit's work, nor shed much 
light on the psychological aspects of the pro- 
cesses involved in our transformation into his 
likeness. The attitude which becomes us most 
in the presence of his amazing love, is silent 
reverence. The necessity for the work he 
proposes in us, the provision for it, and the 
terms required, are all plain, and this ought 
to suffice. As remarked in a previous chap- 
ter, in the earlier stages of experience there 
is great dissimilarity in appearances. Some 
are convicted of sin suddenly, and with over- 
whelming emotional disturbances, while others 
awake to thoughtfulness and forsake sin as 
unreasonable and ruinous, and deliberately 
respond to the claims of God with little ex- 
citement. Some enter the kingdom after vio- 
lent struggles, and feel unutterable rapttfre, 
while others quietly wait and trust, and hail 
the rising light of peace as calmly as the dawn 
of the morning. Scarcely can two be found 
whose experiences agree in detail, while all 
agree in essentials and results. The one 
Spirit reveals a wonderful variety in admini.^ 



THE TWO AGENCIES. 297 

tration. From all which the lesson comes 
that no man's experience is the model or 
standard for ours. We build only upon the 
Rock, each for himself, with reference to small 
attainments and great. There is not a doubt 
that many fall short of their high calling at 
this point. They seek according to a standard 
previously fixed in the mind, which has been 
determined by the conception gained from the 
personal testimony of some one who has 
spoken earnestly of the details of experience, 
and because they can not find reproduced in 
themselves all that seemed included in that 
testimony, they fail to go forward. Let each 
learn the requirements of the Lord for him- 
self, and trust the infinite sacrifice, and follow 
the Spirit whithersoever he leadeth, leaving 
modes and processes, and all details, to the 
wisdom of God, and a blessed light will shine 
upon the pathway of experience, leading up- 
ward to the refulgence of heaven. 



